New York, May 23, 2026, 15:03 EDT
- Armada Acquisition Corp. II shares finished Friday at about $10.37, almost matching the SPAC’s March 31 redemption value of $10.39 per share.
- Nasdaq will stay shut Monday for Memorial Day. Investors will have to wait until Tuesday to trade again.
- The Evernorth merger still drives the stock, not normal results.
Armada Acquisition Corp. II traded near the value of its cash trust heading into the U.S. holiday weekend, as investors awaited an update on its Evernorth XRP treasury plan.
XRPN shares finished Friday at $10.37, off just under a cent from the last close. The stock moved between $10.37 and $10.40 on about 42,000 shares, according to the most recent data. XRPN trades on Nasdaq. U.S. equity markets are closed for the weekend, and Nasdaq is also shutting down on Monday, May 25 for Memorial Day.
This comes into play since Armada is a SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company. It’s a shell that raises money and then looks for a business to merge with. For these deals, shares often trade away from the cash redemption value — that’s the amount public holders can take back by redeeming if they choose not to go ahead with the merger.
Armada reported $239.0 million in its trust account at March 31, or $10.39 per each of its 23 million redeemable public shares, according to its latest quarterly filing. Shares of XRPN on Friday traded just under that level, with the market seeing this more as a deal-and-redemption setup than a regular earnings play.
XRPN dipped last week, with shares down 0.48% over the seven days, according to Morningstar numbers from Intelligent Investor. The stock closed at $10.43 a week ago and ended around $10.38.
Broader U.S. stocks closed higher. The S&P 500 gained 0.4% Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%. All the big U.S. indexes ended the week with gains, according to the Associated Press. XRPN was less active, with SPAC trust values, timing, and XRP exposure still driving its trade.
Evernorth’s planned merger would turn it into a public digital asset treasury company that holds crypto assets for equity holders. The firm says it would let investors access XRP via a regulated corporate structure. Evernorth also says it plans to hold and trade XRP actively, not just track the token.
Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla said earlier this month the company is setting up a leadership team for its public debut. “As Evernorth prepares to operate as a public company, we are building a leadership team with the institutional credibility this model requires,” Birla said as the company unveiled its slate of incoming directors and senior executives ahead of the planned listing. PR Newswire
Armada’s deal paperwork lists Evernorth, Pathfinder Digital Assets and Ripple Labs as connected parties. The 10-Q shows $214.05 million in cash and 600,000 XRP coming from advance subscribers, with $10.5 million and 200,000 XRP from delayed subscribers. There’s also 211.3 million XRP from the new sponsor and 50 million XRP from Ripple affiliates, but all these depend on closing terms. The structure uses a PIPE—private investment in public equity—which is a share sale to selected investors tied to a public-company deal.
Evernorth is preparing for deals post-listing, CEO Birla told Reuters in October. “We will look at acquisition opportunities,” he said. The company is also putting together an investment team. Reuters said Japan’s SBI is backing the raise with $200 million, joined by Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Pantera Capital, and Kraken. Reuters
Bitcoin treasury trades are getting more attention, with Reuters calling Strategy the best known of the firms buying bitcoin. Metaplanet, based in Japan, is a public company also running a bitcoin treasury business. Armada stands apart. Its deal for Evernorth is still pending. Armada has said it had not started operations or brought in operating revenue through March 31.
The trade carries risk. Armada said it may need more funding if redemptions spike or if transaction costs jump. Management flagged that tight liquidity and the deadline to close a business combination by Nov. 22, 2026 create substantial doubt about staying a going concern. Any delay, rejection or change to the Evernorth deal, or a drop in XRP that sours investor demand, could make the thin spread over trust value look less appealing.
Trading is back after the Memorial Day break, but the week’s outlook isn’t straightforward. The calendar looks light. Investors are waiting for possible SEC, proxy or shareholder-vote news. CoinMarketCap lists XRP near $1.35 with a market value close to $83 billion, little changed in 24 hours. Unless new deal headlines break, XRPN probably sticks near the trust-account calculation.
