'It Was Magic': Evernorth CEO Lifts Curtain on Early Days of Ripple and XRP

Cover image via depositphotos.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available. XRP is returning to its main historical mission — serving as the fundamental base layer of the global financial system. Ashish Birla , CEO of the institutional company Evernorth, said this in an exclusive interview with Vet from the XRPL Foundation. Advertisement Ahead of Evernorth's long-awaited listing on Nasdaq under the ticker XRPN, Birla shared unique memories from 2013 and explained why XRP's technological "magic" is especially relevant today. A Spartan office on Second Street According to Birla, in late 2013, Ripple's first team worked in extremely modest conditions on Second Street in San Francisco. The office had no air conditioning, so employees simply opened the windows. They assembled their desks by hand, while co-founder Chris Larsen urged everyone to save on everything just to "keep the lights on". HOT Stories 'Retire It and Move On': Bloomberg Tells MSTR to Drop STRC Bitcoin Close to Dropping Out of Top 20 However, Birla says the energy inside the office was enormous. While Arthur Britto was designing the architecture on a whiteboard and David Schwartz was explaining the mechanics of the unique consensus system, the team clearly understood one thing: XRP was the foundational layer of the entire story. Advertisement . @ashgoblue on the very early days at Ripple. He said: "We knew this was going to be big, with XRP as the foundation layer at the core of it." "You could feel the energy in the office." "Arthur was at the whiteboard, while David was in the other room talking about the XRP… pic.twitter.com/8j9pdp17a7 — Vet (@Vet_X0) June 19, 2026 They were building infrastructure for the "Internet of Value" — an open financial network for the instant movement of tokenized assets and liquidity. To test this concept in the real world, Ripple's team conducted its first retail experiment in late 2013. They managed to convince the manager of the nearby Red Door Cafe to accept payments in XRP . Advertisement At the time, the token was worth only about two cents ($0.02), and at today's XRP price, a latte from that experiment would have cost around $120–150. Birla jokingly calls it his personal "Bitcoin pizza" story and recalls that even then, the network was already demonstrating incredible built-in functionality. You Might Also Like Fri, 06/19/2026 - 10:22 XRP Ledger Payments Spike to 500 Million Threshold, but Yet to Break It By Arman Shirinyan Birla wants to carry this philosophy of an open financial system into Evernorth's current activities, as the company, which has accumulated 473 million XRP on its balance sheet, plans to use XRP Ledger as the base layer for launching regulated DeFi products, allowing retail investors to earn yield on equal terms with large funds. According to the interview participants, after years of lawsuits and regulatory uncertainty, XRP is finally returning to its true technological potential of built-in value exchange that was embedded in it from the very first cup of coffee at Red Door Cafe. #XRP #Ripple News #XRP News