Social media users accused Ripple co-founder and executive chairman Chris Larsen of "dumping" 50 million XRP tokens, worth approximately $120–124 million, on retail investors. The controversy began when crypto analyst Maartunn (@JA_Maartun) posted on X (formerly Twitter), claiming Larsen had offloaded the tokens, suggesting he was "cashing out." This sentiment was echoed by other users, leading to widespread discussion and brief price volatility for XRP.
However, Larsen clarified in a verified statement that the transfer was an investment in Evernorth, a Nevada-based startup focused on expanding XRP's role in capital markets and DeFi products. He congratulated the Evernorth team on their launch and explicitly stated, "I’m proud to invest 50M XRP in the firm (you may see some wallet movement on this)."
Pro-crypto lawyer Bill Morgan, a long-time XRP advocate, responded to the accusations, calling out the misinformation. He emphasized that Larsen's action was capital deployment, not profit-taking, stating, "Hard to dump it on retail when you don’t even sell it, but invest it in another firm. The sell pressure in the market must be huge. Dolt."
Evernorth's launch involved a merger agreement with Armada Acquisition Corp II (Nasdaq: AACI), with the new company set to trade on Nasdaq under the symbol "XRPN." The transaction aims to generate over $1 billion in gross proceeds, with participation from investors like SBI Group, Ripple, Rippleworks, Pantera Capital, Kraken, and GSR. A significant portion of the funds will be used to build a corporate treasury by purchasing XRP on the open market, potentially supporting XRP's ecosystem.
Despite the initial social media frenzy, no evidence suggests Larsen's transfer harmed market liquidity or XRP's circulating supply, and the clarification helped stabilize perceptions.
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