Bitwise Files for XRP ETF Following Bitcoin, Ethereum Approvals

By Andrew Hayward and Mat Di Salvo

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.

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. 

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.

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