Key points to remember:
- Evernorth CEO says limited access to Fed accounts could reshape stable coin settlement infrastructure.
- XRP could serve as the dollar’s moving rail after the Federal Reserve’s settlement.
- Regulatory proposals and Evernorth’s $1 billion raise add a public market layer to the XRP strategy.
Forms of debate over access to the Federal Reserve Stable coin Role
A political discussion shared on April 30 by Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla on the social media platform X linked XRP to a potential change in the US payment infrastructure. Evernorth builds an audience XRP Treasury model for institutional exposure. Birla’s thread focused on whether some stable coin issuers could have limited access to Federal Reserve accounts, creating a new role for XRP in the movement of the dollar.
The Evernorth Executive framed the issue around access to basic infrastructure in the colonies. The proposal would allow certain federally chartered organizations stable coin issuers to open a narrower version of a Federal Reserve main account. He wrote:
“A ‘master account’ at the Fed is the pinnacle of payments plumbing. It provides direct access to settle dollars at the source. Today, only banks have them. Every payment application goes through a bank to access them.”
Birla also cited regulatory activity, including a Federal Reserve staff memo, a proposal from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and a proposal from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The March 30 Federal Reserve staff memo examined how the payment stable coins could reduce friction in cross-border transfers. It describes a model in which funds are converted into stable coinsmoved more directly, then exchanged into local currency. The note says adoption will depend on regulation, technology and conversion costs. Separately, the FDIC said April 7 that its board approved a proposed rule to implement GENIUS Act standards covering reserve assets, redemption, capital, risk management, custody, and custody for authorized payments. stable coin transmitters.
XRP Positioned as a movement layer in the payment stack
For XRPthe central question is where movement occurs once access to the colonies is granted. In the context of Birla, the qualification stable coin issuers would still settle through the Federal Reserve. XRP would not replace this layer of colonization. Its possible role would be to move dollars up the payments stack once regulated. stable coin the infrastructure connects more directly to bank accounts.
Ripple USD (RLUSD) stable coin The example emphasized this point. “RLUSD is issued by Ripple’s trust company regulated in New York. This regulatory profile is close to what a lean master account envisions,” explained the Evernorth executive, adding:
“If the proposal moves forward and RLUSD qualifies, settlement will still take place at the Fed. But XRP becomes a rail of movement for dollars inside the US payments stack.
The claim remains conditional, but it places XRP in the operational layer of a potential stablecoin-based payment structure.
Evernorth adds a public market angle to the same XRP theme. The company filed a registration statement on Form S-4 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 18 for its proposed business combination with Armada Acquisition Corp. II (Nasdaq: XRPN). Evernorth said it is building regulated and transparent XRP exposure through an actively managed treasury strategy. The company has raised over $1 billion in gross proceeds and hopes to become a publicly traded XRP treasury company on Nasdaq if the deal closes.
