An XRP treasury SPAC surges nearly 300% ahead of Evernorth merger
Armada Acquisition Corp. II rose about 270% last week, leaving the thinly traded shell at nearly four times its roughly $10.50 trust value before merging with Evernorth, an XPR treasury company.
Shares of the shell company taking XRP treasury firm Evernorth public nearly quadrupled last week, ahead of a merger that would bring hundreds of millions of tokens and new shareholders into the listed business.
Armada Acquisition Corp. II (XRPN) closed at $39.42 on Friday, up 68% that day and about 273% for the week, according to StockAnalysis data. The shares briefly touched $53, compared with $10.58 a week earlier. Shares are higher by another 9.5% in pre-market trading Monday.
Evernorth told CoinDesk in an email that it expects the merger to close on Wednesday, Oct. 7, subject to remaining conditions.
Armada is a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. It raised money, holds it in a trust and later merges with a private business. Public shareholders can request their money back before the deal closes, rather than keep their shares in the combined company.
Armada’s trust held $241.2 million at the end of June, with a redemption value of about $10.49 per public share, according to its quarterly filing. Evernorth’s Oct. 1 announcement indicates that approximately $48 million in trust proceeds will remain for the transaction.
Comparing those figures suggests roughly 80% of the trust money would be returned to shareholders, according to CoinDesk calculations. The announcement did not provide a final count of redeemed shares.
Redemptions can leave fewer public shares available to trade, allowing relatively small orders to move the price sharply.
Evernorth expects to hold approximately 473 million XRP at closing. At Monday’s price of roughly $1.51, that would be worth about $714 million. Its announced financing also includes approximately $300 million in gross cash proceeds before expenses, comprising $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 purchased with cash is already worth substantially 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, CoinDesk reported in March. That tranche would now be worth roughly $127 million.
The deal comes as other cryptocurrency treasury listings have struggled 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. ProCap BTC had lost more than 60% since its own merger by then.
Evernorth’s closing disclosures should show the final share count and remaining cash. The combined company is expected to begin trading on Thursday, Oct. 8.
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Asanat Analysis — Why it matters
Armada Acquisition Corp. II's 270% surge reflects speculative positioning ahead of a SPAC merger with Evernorth, an XRP treasury entity. The stock trading at nearly 4x trust value signals either significant market optimism about Evernorth's use case or typical SPAC-phase volatility where thinly traded shells experience outsized moves on minimal volume. SPACs in crypto have historically underperformed post-merger as retail enthusiasm encounters execution reality.
The timing matters: XRP's ecosystem has grown infrastructure (DEXs, stablecoins, payment rails) since 2023, creating plausible commercial narratives around treasury management. However, Evernorth's specific differentiation—whether it's yield generation, institutional custody, or something novel—remains unclear from available signals. The merger price relative to trust value will determine whether this move reflects genuine product-market fit or classic pre-merger hype dissipation.
For XRP holders, a successful treasury product could deepen ecosystem adoption; for SPAC investors, the historical track record suggests caution. The extreme valuation delta and thin trading suggest retail speculation rather than institutional conviction, a pattern that typically inverts post-merger when lock-up periods expire.