Traditional futures powerhouse Chicago Mercantile Group has announced the debut of real-time indices and reference rates for Ripple’s XRP — a move that CEO Brad Garlinghouse said could boost institutional adoption of the eighth largest crypto.
CME Group Introduces XRP Reference Rates
CME Group and CF Benchmarks have revealed plans to launch new reference rates and real-time indices for Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency. XRP’s addition signifies a strong demand for a reliable price feed among institutional investors.
Besides XRP, CME Group also introduced these products for Internet Computer (ICP). The new benchmarks will provide transparent pricing data to enable market participants to value their portfolios accurately.
“With 24 cryptocurrencies in our suite of CME CF References Rates and Real-Time Indices, we will provide pricing data across more than 93% of the investible cryptocurrency market capitalization, helping clients everywhere to better manage their risk,” said CME Group Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products Giovanni Vicioso.
The real-time indices for XRP and ICP will be updated every second based on order book activity on leading digital asset trading platforms, including Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, and Bitstamp. The daily U.S. dollar price of each digital asset will be provided at 4 p.m. UTC. Notably, these reference rates and indices are not tradable futures products.
Is An XRP ETF Coming Soon?
Reacting to the news of new XRP reference rates and real-time indices, Ripple chief Brad Garlinghouse suggested this is the first step towards institutional crypto products. He further acknowledged the work put in by both CME Group and the CF Benchmarks towards launching the XRP Index, adding that “the market has spoken.”
First step towards institutional crypto products is to have a trusted benchmark reference rate. Nice to see @CMEGroup and @CFBenchmarks collaborate on this for an XRP index. The market has spoken. https://t.co/cKqqMLswdw
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) July 11, 2024
Meanwhile, speculations about a U.S.-listed XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) are still ongoing. Highly regulated crypto ETFs are quite significant because they provide traditional institutional investors with exposure to cryptocurrencies without needing them to hold these assets directly.
Garlinghouse previously asserted that an XRP ETF was inevitable. The Ripple boss also voiced optimism that the crypto market was headed toward a $5 trillion valuation owing to the recent approvals of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in the United States.
Experts have noted that the approval of an XRP-based ETF is greatly dependent on its presence in a prominent derivative exchange such as CME. This makes the latest development a notable milestone for XRP in its journey toward securing a spot ETF.
XRP was trading for $0.4686 as of publication time, representing a 5.3% gain on the day.
