The crypto market is frozen. Bitcoin is under pressure, altcoins are bleeding. But XRP stands apart — funds tracking the token have been outperforming those built around Bitcoin and other digital assets. XRP is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, behind only Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Asheesh Birla, founder of Evernorth and a former senior product executive at Ripple, said in an interview: “XRP ETFs are performing better than the alternative digital assets, including Bitcoin. So there is a lot of interest in XRP as a product. It is a very liquid asset.” Birla sees this as more than a short-term anomaly.
Real-World Use Case: Cross-Border Payments as a Moat
Crypto winters tend to wash out hype-driven projects. Birla argues that XRP weathers these periods better because it sits at the center of a genuine money-moving use case: cheap and fast cross-border payments for banks. That underlying demand doesn't disappear when token prices fall. Banks still need to settle international payments. Transactions keep happening. The fee income that flows through XRP's network doesn't stop just because retail investors are nervous. Evernorth, Birla's firm, focuses exclusively on XRP, a deliberate choice he says keeps liquidity pooled in one place rather than spread thin across dozens of competing networks. “Digital assets are largely a liquidity business, and pooling that liquidity on fewer chains, not more, is going to make that experience better,” he added.
Regulatory Tailwinds: GENIUS and CLARITY Acts
Beyond day-to-day market mechanics, Birla points to policy shifts in Washington. The GENIUS Act, which sets rules for dollar-backed stablecoins, has already passed. The CLARITY Act, which aims to provide clearer rules for the broader crypto industry, is moving through Congress. “We’ve seen again and again, if you have the technology, that’s not enough. What you need is technology, you need regulation, and then you see capital formation,” he said.
Institutional Capital Flows In
The third piece — serious money from big institutions — is now arriving. Asset managers Franklin Templeton and BlackRock have both begun moving assets onto blockchains. Birla sees that as the beginning of something much larger. When traditional finance giants start to commit to on-chain assets, the depth of the liquidity pool changes fundamentally.
Short-Term Data vs. Long-Term Vision
When presented with data showing that decentralized finance (DeFi) activity has barely grown, Birla didn't dodge. “One year is not long-term, that is short-term. When you look at innovation cycles, you’ve got to look at these things in 10 years. Maybe our society needs to change a little bit and think about the bigger picture.” That perspective echoes XRP's relative resilience in a frozen market.