Canary Capital has filed for permission to offer an exchange-traded fund (ETF) linked to Ripple-associated cryptocurrency XRP. This is the second such registration in the United States, just a week after Bitwise filed for a similar product.
Canary Capital Files First Form S-1 For XRP ETF With SEC
Crypto investment company Canary Capital took a big step toward launching an exchange-traded fund tied to XRP.
On Tuesday, the firm submitted an S-1 form to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a key requirement for companies looking to issue a new security and be listed on a public stock exchange.
Operated by Canary Capital Group, the fund will track the price of XRP via the CME CF Ripple. If approved, the ETF would give investors “the opportunity to access the market for XRP through a traditional brokerage account without the potential barriers to entry or risks involved with acquiring and holding XRP directly,” the filing reads.
XRP currently occupies the seventh spot on the crypto leaderboard, according to CoinGecko data. Its larger rivals, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) have since earlier this year both been available to investors as ETFs, amassing billions in inflows.
The Canary Capital XRP ETF bid also comes after a federal judge in August directed Ripple Labs to pay $125 million to the SEC for selling its unregistered institutional sales of the XRP token.
“We’re seeing encouraging signs of a more progressive regulatory environment coupled with growing demand from investors for sophisticated access to cryptocurrencies beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum — specifically investors seeking access to enterprise-grade blockchain solutions and their native tokens such as XRP,” Canary Capital’s founder Steven McClurg postulated in a statement.
The company’s application follows a similar move by Bitwise, which filed to debut its own spot XRP ETF roughly a week ago. Bitwise’s filing, like Canary’s, marks a notable push in bringing XRP into legacy financial markets through regulated ETF products.
Uncertainty Around XRP ETFs
The SEC has not approved a spot XRP ETF before, and if it does, it could face significant hurdles. Ripple has been mired in a multi-year-long legal brawl with the Securities and Exchange Commission after the regulator accused the San Francisco company of raising $1.3 billion via the sale of XRP, which it considers an unregistered security.
The SEC recently challenged a court ruling in its case against Ripple regarding XRP’s classification. This move has hindered progress toward a spot XRP product, with the lack of regulatory clarity likely delaying a potential greenlight until 2025 or even later.
While crypto companies like Crypto.com are counter-suing the SEC, most crypto spectators doubt other crypto ETFs could see the light of day under Gary Gensler’s leadership.
