Ashish Birla (애시시 벌라), chief executive of Evernode, a company that publicly holds XRP, pointed to Ripple’s network linking financial institutions and regulators as XRP’s core competitive strength.

On June 15, blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that Birla recently stressed Ripple’s long-standing ties with the banking sector and its regulatory response capabilities as factors that could drive institutional adoption, in a podcast.

Birla said technology alone is not enough for blockchain to change traditional finance. He cited three conditions for mainstream adoption: strong technology, connection to real-world finance and regulatory clarity. He said technology accounts for about 25 percent, real financial networks about 50 percent, and the rest is handled by regulation and market adoption.

He said Ripple’s advantage is the foundation it has built over many years by connecting with financial institutions and securing licences in various countries. Birla said the infrastructure Ripple has put in place to connect with financial institutions is creating a link to the real world. He also argued that XRP sits at the intersection where tokenised assets, financial infrastructure and value transfers between markets meet.

He also mentioned XRP’s technical role. Birla assessed XRP as an efficient network for moving tokenised value. He also said many investors still overlook that a decentralised exchange is built into the XRP Ledger by default.

He also stressed that tokenisation activity within XRP Ledger has been increasing recently. Birla cited growing stablecoin adoption and cooperation with companies such as Franklin Templeton as signs of growth. He said these trends could give XRP a point of differentiation even in competition with institution-focused blockchain networks.

He also compared XRP with other blockchains. Birla described Ethereum as a hub of innovation and experimentation, but questioned whether it has the scale and institutional focus to change global financial markets. He said institutional participation alone is not enough for the Canton Network. A successful blockchain ecosystem must include retail users, developers and institutions, and he argued that only XRP currently combines all three groups.

He also noted that XRP had previously been criticised as a "financial sector coin". Birla said that if the goal is to reshape global finance, cooperation with financial institutions is unavoidable. He said ties with the financial sector are not a weakness but a condition for adoption within the regulated system.

Evernode’s fundraising plans could also draw market attention. Birla signalled the company may pursue additional fundraising to increase its XRP holdings. "If an opportunity arises, we will go back out to the capital market, the stock market, one of the most liquid markets in the world, and consider additional fundraising," he said, adding that the funds secured could be put into more XRP investment.

Market focus is narrowing to two issues. One is whether the network of financial institutions Ripple has built will translate into actual institutional demand. The other is how much Evernode will expand its XRP exposure by moving ahead with additional fundraising.