Battle for XRP ETFs: A New Milestone in Crypto Investment

The dynamics in the market for crypto ETFs is taking a new turn: The race for the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) that replicates the digital token XRP is on. Particularly noteworthy is the initiative by the recently established investment firm Canary Capital Group, which has submitted its plans for the Canary XRP ETF to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This initiative closely follows Bitwise Asset Management, which has also expressed its intention to launch such a fund. Steven McClurg, former co-founder of Valkyrie Funds and the driving force behind Canary, expressed confidence in a regulatory environment that is increasingly becoming more innovation-friendly. This positive sentiment is underpinned by growing investor interest in crypto investments. Meanwhile, the ETF market is showing vitality, as funds for Bitcoin and Ether have already sparked interest—Bitcoin ETFs have recorded inflows of nearly 19 billion dollars, although Ether ETFs have so far faced outflows of about 550 million dollars. It is currently unclear at what price the Canary XRP ETF will be offered, and the ticker has not yet been revealed. However, the efforts impressively illustrate the providers' desire to make the crypto market accessible to a wider audience and to benefit from regulatory developments. There remains a slight unease as to whether the regulators will approve these new financial products. Yet, crypto veterans like FRNT Financial’s CEO Stephane Ouellette recognize the strategic calculus of companies securing positioning advantages in a changing market. The upward trend in the crypto ETF sector is further reinforced by the recent creation of the Grayscale XRP Trust, which offers investors a gateway to the opportunities of the XRP Ledger that simplifies cross-border financial transactions. Another incentive for these developments was provided by a court ruling in August: Ripple Labs was sentenced to pay a civil penalty for selling XRP tokens to institutional investors without registering with US authorities.