Yesterday, Wisdom Tree registered in the state of Delaware for a new ETF on XRP
NEW: Global ETF provider @WisdomTreeFunds has registered in the state of Delaware for an $XRP ETF. I have confirmed with the company this is a legitimate filing.
Wisdom Tree has over $100 billion in assets under management. pic.twitter.com/BXutcLIW3x
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) November 25, 2024
This filing demonstrates the issuer’s intention to launch on the US exchanges an ETF on XRP spot, in addition to those on Bitcoin and Ethereum
Crypto ETFs: XRP is on the list
In January of this year, for the first time in history, spot crypto ETFs were launched on the USA exchanges
In that case, it was about ETFs on Bitcoin, directly collateralized in BTC, of which the most famous and used is IBIT by BlackRock.
Previously, the US SEC had never approved the launch on US exchanges of any spot crypto ETF, that is, directly collateralized in the underlying
At the end of July, the spot ETH ETFs also arrived, partly because the SEC probably received the political diktat not to stand in the way of these initiatives anymore
Some time ago, a formal request was sent to the SEC for the issuance of an ETF on SOL (Solana), which could be on track to arrive in the early months of 2025
Now the formal request for the issuance of an ETF on XRP spot should also arrive.
The Turns of the SEC
The SEC led by the Democrat Gary Gensler has firmly opposed the issuance of spot crypto ETFs on US exchanges.
In mid-2023, however, a real cold shower arrived for the agency: a court ruled the rejection of the requests for the issuance of spot BTC ETFs in the USA to be unfair, effectively ordering the SEC to approve them
And so the agency at the beginning of 2024 was forced to approve them, and the first Bitcoin ETFs were able to land on the US stock exchanges
Another turning point came in May, when the SEC was tasked with deciding on the request to also issue ETFs on Ethereum
At first, it was expected to do as it did with those on Bitcoin, that is, rejecting them initially and then allowing a court to make the final decision
Instead, it did not go that way, and the SEC approved the request for an Ethereum spot ETF practically on the first try, albeit as late as possible
The idea that many have formed is that the democratic presidency of Joe Biden, in the midst of the electoral campaign, decided to block the anti-crypto initiatives of the SEC in order not to lose votes
The change of course by the SEC
With the victory of the Republican Donald Trump in the elections on November 5, things are already starting to change
In particular, President Gensler first declared that he was ready to step aside, and then announced that he will resign as chairman of the SEC on January 20, the day Trump takes office as President of the United States
It will be a real change of course, given that at least one other democratic member of the SEC board has also announced their resignation
In fact, since Donald Trump is clearly pro-crypto, it is even imaginable that he will appoint a person favorable to the development of the crypto sector as the new president of the agency, also because Trump himself is involved in a DeFi project.
This opens the door to the approval of many other crypto ETFs, especially considering that, for example, in the European markets there are already many crypto ETPs on a multitude of tokens
The effect on XRP: ETFs could help the price
Before Trump’s victory, the price of XRP was about $0.5
Note that in June 2022 it was just below $0.4, so in more than two years it had done almost nothing but move sideways
The accusations made by the SEC against both XRP and Ripple weighed heavily, even though in reality both legal proceedings had already reached a conclusion, albeit still only partial
With Trump’s victory, everything changed for XRP, because it was immediately realized the probable change of course of the SEC
And so, four days later, the price of XRP had risen to $0.6, and after Gensler’s initial statements compatible with his resignation, it even jumped above $1
The last time the price of XRP was at $1 was in December 2021, which was just at the beginning of the last major bear-market
Furthermore, with the news of Gensler’s upcoming resignation, the price of XRP last week had also risen to $1.5
The day before yesterday, to tell the truth, it had then slightly fallen back to $1.3, but yesterday’s news brought it back above $1.4
The point is that now XRP seems to have shaken off the sword of Damocles that had been hanging over it since the end of 2020, that is, since the SEC initiated the lawsuit against Ripple for the sale of unregistered security
Nonetheless, the current price level is still 63% lower than the all-time highs of $3.8 in January 2018.
