WisdomTree Funds, a New York-based assets management firm, registered in the state of Delaware for an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETP) on Nov. 25, signaling its broader intent to file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The company joins Bitwise, Canary Capital, and 21Shares as an early XRP ETF applicant in the US. At the time of this article’s publication, however, no such applications have been approved by the SEC.
A screenshot of WisdomTree’s filing with the state of Delaware. Source: Eleanor Terrett
An XRP ETF
WisdomTree’s filing comes at what may be a pivotal moment for XRP. Ripple, the San Francisco-based company that created the XRP cryptocurrency, achieved a partial victory in a years-long battle against an SEC lawsuit when a judge ruled that XRP was not a security in July 2023.
The SEC filed its official appeal on Oct. 2, 2024, just ahead of the deadline given by the court. It was subsequently granted a request to delay the opening brief until Jan. 15, 2025.
Top-down regulatory reform
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 US presidential election in early November has led to a flurry of activity from the President-elect’s transition team. While there’s been no direct mention of the Ripple lawsuit, and the President-elect hasn’t yet disclosed whether his administration will pursue current cryptocurrency suits levied by the SEC, analysts are predicting a radical change in the federal government’s approach to cryptocurrency regulation and oversight.
As part of the Republican's campaign platform, Trump promised to make the US the Bitcoin, crypto, and blockchain capital of the world. He’s also criticized the federal government’s handling of cryptocurrency under President Joseph Biden and current SEC chief Gary Gensler.
Once Trump takes office, however, the nation will reside under an entirely different financial governance scheme—one where conservative appointees hold the highest seats in the offices of the Treasury, pending approval, and Gensler is no longer employed at the SEC.
President-elect Trump may ultimately install a regulatory regime willing to dismiss the longstanding suits against firms such as Ripple. This would likely pave the way for an XRP ETF, potentially sooner than analysts have anticipated.
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