The XRP Shell Company That Nearly Quadrupled Before Its Merger Even Closed

Shares of the shell company taking XRP treasury firm Evernorth public nearly quadrupled last week, ahead of a merger expected to bring hundreds of millions of XRP tokens — and a new set of public shareholders — into the listed business, according to CoinDesk.

The run

Armada Acquisition Corp. II closed at $39.42 on Friday, up 68% on the day and roughly 273% for the week, per StockAnalysis data cited in the report. The shares briefly touched $53, compared with $10.58 a week earlier, and were up another 9.5% in pre-market trading Monday. Evernorth told CoinDesk by email that it expects the merger to close on Wednesday, Oct. 7, subject to remaining conditions.

Armada is a special purpose acquisition company — a listed shell that raised cash, parked it in a trust, and is now merging with a private business. Its shareholders can demand their money back before the deal closes rather than hold shares in the combined company.

Thin float, sharp moves

That redemption mechanic is a big part of why the price ran so hard. Armada's trust held $241.2 million at the end of June, worth about $10.49 per public share, according to its quarterly filing. Evernorth's Oct. 1 announcement indicated only about $48 million in trust proceeds will remain for the transaction — which, by CoinDesk's math, suggests roughly 80% of the trust money will be returned to shareholders. The announcement did not give a final count of redeemed shares.

With most of the trust walking out the door, fewer public shares remain available to trade, so relatively small orders can swing the price sharply. The shell was trading near four times its roughly $10.50 trust value before merging with Evernorth.

A $714 million XRP bet

At closing, Evernorth expects to hold about 473 million XRP — worth roughly $714 million at Monday's price of around $1.51. Its financing also includes approximately $300 million in gross cash proceeds before expenses: $225 million from private placements, $30 million in convertible notes, and $48 million from Armada's trust. Backers have also contributed XRP directly.

Some of the XRP bought with cash is already worth far less than Evernorth paid. The company spent $214.1 million buying 84.4 million XRP through the end of 2025, an average of about $2.54, according to CoinDesk's earlier reporting — a tranche now worth roughly $127 million.

A rough neighborhood

The deal arrives as other crypto treasury listings have stumbled after their mergers. Tether-backed Twenty One fell 25% in early trading on its NYSE debut in December, approaching the $10 price paid by its private-placement investors, and ProCap BTC had lost more than 60% since its own merger by that point, the report notes. Whether Evernorth's XRP vehicle breaks the pattern starts with how that thin float trades after Wednesday's close.

Crypto prices move fast — figures cited above reflect the source's reporting at publication time, not live market data.

Written by the BidAsk Newsroom. Based on reporting from the sources below.