Evernorth eyes DeFi opportunities as XRP Ledger weighs native lending

Evernorth is looking to deploy its XRP holdings across the XRP Ledger ecosystem as proposed lending functionality moves through the network's review process, according to Chief Business Officer Sagar Shah.Speaking to The Block's Kelvin Sparks at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium 2026, Shah said Evernorth was built as an XRP-focused digital asset treasury with the aim of putting its holdings to use rather than simply holding them. The company is also in the process of going public, he said.Shah is particularly excited about XLS-66, a proposal designed to bring native lending functionality to the XRP Ledger. Shah argued that implementing XLS-66 at the ledger level could offer greater protections than DeFi applications built through smart contracts on top of other networks.XRP Ledger's DeFi push"Because it's natively built into the ledger, I think a lot of the protections that exist, smart contract exploits might exist with other chains, are almost non-existent on the XRP Ledger," Shah said. Validators are currently reviewing the code and assessing its robustness as the proposal moves forward.Shah, who previously spent five years at Ripple, also highlighted confidential transfers and smart escrows as additional functions that could broaden the XRP Ledger's use in real-world assets. He said roughly $30 billion in assets are currently tokenized, while the market could potentially run into the trillions.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.