Thomas Daniels
Grayscale Investments’ plan to turn its XRP Trust into a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) is anticipated to be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as early as Thursday, February 13. According to financial journalist Eleanor Terrett, this timetable corresponds with the SEC’s typical 15-day response window for 19b-4 filings, which Grayscale filed on January 30.
The XRP ETF Initiative by Grayscale
The goal of Grayscale’s strategy is to turn its XRP Trust—which presently manages assets worth about $16.1 million—into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is listed on the NYSE. Through the conversion, investors would be able to trade fund shares, giving them exposure to XRP without having to directly own any cryptocurrency.
Given the SEC’s prior legal disputes with Ripple, the firm that created XRP, a ruling on this issue could be a crucial sign of the agency’s changing position on the cryptocurrency. The SEC may handle related financial instruments differently as a result of the noteworthy federal court decision that XRP is not a security in secondary market transactions.
High Chance of Approval
Traders predict an 81% chance that the SEC will approve a spot XRP ETF this year, according to Polymarket. The resolution of Ripple’s continuing legal battle with the SEC, however, is still a significant consideration in our evaluation.
In the meantime, the price of XRP has dropped by almost 30% from its peak in January, indicating a bear market trend fueled by a dip in both futures open interest and daily trading volume.
