Bitwise hopes to launch another major cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF), confirming to Decrypt that an application for an XRP fund filed with the state of Delaware is legitimate.
The application to launch the ETF based on XRP—the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market cap—comes following Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approvals of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs from various firms earlier this year.
ETFs are popular investment vehicles that trade on stock exchanges and give investors exposure to an underlying asset. The crypto ETFs approved in the U.S. this year have been hugely popular, bringing in billions of dollars in inflows in over a short period of time.
The San Francisco, California-based Bitwise is a crypto asset manager that offers clients a number of investment funds.
Solana, XRP ETFs Next After Ethereum, Bitcoin Approvals: Standard Chartered
More crypto ETFs are coming. That’s according to British multinational bank Standard Chartered, whose digital assets researcher said in a Friday note that Solana and XRP will soon get their own exchange-traded funds. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday approved eight spot Ethereum ETFs. The unexpected and historic move means that traditional investors can now buy shares which track the price of the second-biggest digital asset. The move follows approval of spot Bitcoin...
Bitwise confirmed that the filing is real, but told Decrypt that it wouldn’t comment on a “fund that is in the filing stage.”
XRP was created by the founders of Ripple, a fintech company that wants to speed up cross-border payments. The cryptocurrency and the company now operate separately.
It isn’t guaranteed that the SEC will approve a XRP ETF after clashing with Ripple in a long legal battle for years. The SEC hit Ripple with a $1.3 billion lawsuit in 2020, alleging that the company sold unregistered securities in the form of XRP to investors to raise funds.
Grayscale Debuts XRP Trust Following Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF Launches
Digital asset manager Grayscale today launched a new trust giving investors exposure to XRP, the seventh biggest cryptocurrency by market cap and the coin created by the founders of payments platform Ripple. In a Thursday announcement, Grayscale said that it believed the asset had the "potential to transform the legacy financial infrastructure." The trust will allow investors to buy shares that track the price of XRP, but it will operate differently to its Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded fu...
Last year, Ripple scored a partial court win against the SEC when a judge ruled that programmatic sales of XRP to retail investors did not qualify as securities.
While the judge also said that $728 million worth of contracts for institutional sales did constitute unregistered securities sales, the ruling sent shockwaves through the industry and was widely interpreted as a victory for the crypto industry.
The price of XRP is now trading for $0.61, up 3% over the past seven days.
Additional reporting by André Beganski
Edited by Andrew Hayward
Editor's note: This story was updated after publication with additional details.
