Wall Street rushes to unveil new wave of Crypto-Spot ETFs
Cryptocurrency | Representative
The fray to roll out an exchange-traded fund tracking XRP, the seventh-largest digital token, has begun.
Application to launch Canary XRP ETF was filed by the newly founded digital asset-focused investment firm Canary Capital Group with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The firm, founded in September, filed applications just one week after Bitwise Asset Management Inc. was recorded as the first firm to file for an ETF tracking the token.
Canary, founded by former Valkyrie Funds co-founder Steven McClurg, said in a statement that it was encouraged by “signs of a more progressive regulatory environment coupled with growing demand from investors.”
These filings follow highly anticipated launches of ETFs that hold Bitcoin and Ether earlier this year, and as companies including VanEck Asset Management and 21Shares AG try to introduce funds linked to the Solana token. Bitcoin ETFs have gained nearly $19 billion since their launch, while Ether ETFs have experienced around $550 million of outflows.
Canary's filing did not include a ticker or estimated fee. It would be the company's first ETF.
The XRP filings suggest issuers are pushing regulators to open the crypto boom to the mainstream retail market.
“This demonstrates that ETF providers will be closely following the regulatory landscape for perceived daylight in allowing them to offer new products,” said Stephane Ouellette, co-founder and chief executive officer of FRNT Financial. “There’s still uncertainty about whether they will be approved, and it very much makes sense for two firms born out of the crypto native landscape to try to broaden their product offerings.”
These bids come in the wake of an event: in August, a federal judge ordered Ripple Labs Inc. to pay a civil penalty over allegations that it sold its XRP token to institutional investors without registering it with US regulators following a long legal dispute.
In September, the crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments announced that it started offering the Grayscale XRP Trust, which provides investors with exposure to the token powering XRP Ledger. This is a decentralised, peer-to-peer network aiming to support cross-border financial transactions.