The first XRP ETF is finally in play. If this happens before Solana, I’ll officially join the XRP nation. Sources told FOX Business that crypto asset manager Bitwise has taken the plunge and filed with the SEC to launch an XRP ETF.
XRP, the seventh-largest cryptocurrency, boasting a $30 billion market cap, has long since been centralized on steroids — the Joker to Bitcoin’s Batman. Conversely, many don’t argue about the underlying tech; they’re concerned with XRP’s case with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to determine whether it is a security or a commodity.
But with the good of an XRP ETF comes a little bit of bad, XRP fam.
The SEC is about to come after you again.
The SEC Has Until October 7 to Go After XRP
Crypto has been around since 2009. Nearly 15 years later, regulations are still nebulous.
An ex-SEC attorney who recently left the agency hinted at an impending challenge to District Judge Analisa Torres’ July XRP ruling. The insider claims the SEC team is convinced the decision misfired legally and merits an appeal.
Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett shared on social media last week that a lawyer told her the regulator would “probably” appeal the XRP ruling. She quoted the lawyer as saying:
“Everyone over there [at the SEC] truly believes that the decision is wrong, that it’s not good law, and should be appealed.”
In December 2020, the SEC took Ripple, XRP’s parent company, to court over allegedly unregistered XRP securities sales. Ripple denied this, viewing XRP as currency and outside SEC oversight. By July 2023, Judge Torres sided with Ripple on programmatic XRP sales, ruling they weren’t securities transactions, marking a win for Ripple.
As the October 7 cutoff approaches, the case remains pivotal for crypto regulation across America.
Ask yourself what would happen even if XRP becomes a security?
There’s a reason why Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley’s main offices are in London. In finance, we call it regulatory arbitrage. As America blunders with financial regulation, London wins, taking our business.
It happened recently when the US obfuscated derivative laws for banks, so the UK changed its banking rules to make things easier. It’ll happen again with crypto if the SEC keeps it up.
News on the XRP ETF
Managing over $4.5 billion, Bitwise is the first to advocate for a spot ETF tracking XRP officially.
Hot on the heels of launching Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, Bitwise has snapped up ETC Group, a major player in Europe’s crypto ETF scene.
Yet, the road to an XRP ETF is uncertain, as recent Solana ETF bids were pulled, and the SEC is worried that Solana is also a security.
Here’s my best impression of the SEC if they were Oprah: “And you get a security, and you become a security!”
Should XRP succeed where Solana stumbled, it could shine a light on an altcoin many had written off after the SEC took them on.
“XRP is one of the most enduring, well-known assets in the space and is also recognized among mainstream investors,” Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley told FOX Business. “At Bitwise we’ve always aimed to help investors access the opportunities in the space, and we’re excited to continue that work with our filing for a Bitwise XRP ETP.”
