XRP treasury gets OpenAI CFO; Ethereum ETFs shed $183M as DeFi hacks surge

U.Today’s Morning Crypto Report highlights three market threads: XRP, Ethereum ETFs, and Bitcoin positioning. 1) XRP: Evernorth Holdings (future Nasdaq ticker: XRPN) said in an S-4 amendment that Robert Kaiden (OpenAI Foundation CFO) and Derar Islim will join its board. The firm targets a roughly $1B-equivalent XRP treasury and is positioning XRP around a potential settlement layer for AI-agent microtransactions. The deal is expected to close in Q2 2026, aiming to make Evernorth the first U.S.-listed “pure-play” XRP treasury. 2) Ethereum ETFs: After strong month-to-date inflows, spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $183 million in outflows in the final week of April (per SoSoValue). The driver is a “perfect storm” of DeFi security: April logged 28 hacks totaling about $635 million in losses. Key cases included Drift Protocol (~$285M loss on Solana) and Kelp DAO (~$293M), the latter triggering a bad-debt issue in Aave and pressuring liquidity across the ecosystem. Analysts also note that while AI tools are improving security, advanced language models may be increasingly accessible to attackers. 3) Bitcoin: Analyst DonAlt expects BTC to remain in a prolonged consolidation (“chop”) into May 2026 rather than a sharp crash. BTC trades around $77.2k–$77.4k, with support near $73.5k and resistance toward $80k. Overall, XRP-side developments look constructive, but Ethereum ETF outflows tied to DeFi hacks are the clearest near-term risk catalyst, with Bitcoin framed as range-bound while traders wait for macro data.