The cryptocurrency market continues to heat up, with a new wave of applications for crypto ETFs flooding the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The latest entrant in this race is 21Shares, a prominent investment firm, which has filed an application to launch a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The proposed ETF, named the 21Shares Core XRP Trust, is set to be listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange and will be overseen by Coinbase Custody Trust Company as the custodian. This move signifies 21Shares’ commitment to expanding U.S. investor access to the cryptocurrency asset class.
The firm is not alone in this quest. A growing number of companies are vying for approval for different crypto ETFs, driven by the SEC’s initial approval of crypto ETFs earlier this year. Notably, Canary Capital and Bitwise are among those seeking approval for a spot XRP ETF, highlighting the growing appetite for this particular cryptocurrency.
However, this race faces a significant hurdle: the ongoing legal dispute between Ripple and the SEC. The SEC has accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP, classifying it as an unregistered security. This case, still pending, casts a shadow over the potential approval of XRP ETFs.
Despite the legal uncertainty, the move by 21Shares represents a broader trend in the investment landscape. Investment firms are increasingly looking to broaden investor access to the cryptocurrency market through ETFs, capitalizing on the surging interest in this asset class.
This development comes on the heels of other significant moves in the crypto ETF arena. In July 2024, Cboe Global Markets Inc. submitted a request to the SEC to list Solana spot exchange-traded funds applied by VanEck and 21Shares. If approved, these would be the first ETF products linked to Solana. The race for crypto ETF approval is far from over, and the outcome of the XRP-SEC case will likely have a significant impact on the future of these products.
