Ripple Labs has been at war with the United States SEC over XRP tokens for years. With all that, investment institutions have begun to slide the possibility of a Spot XRP ETF. How will that work?
Since the launch of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, which followed the performance of Bitcoin (in January 2024) and Ethereum (in July 2024), industry investors have been wondering what’s next on the ETF list.
It looks like Ripple’s XRP is next in line. Why and how? Bitwise registered an XRP investment instrument in Delaware at the beginning of October. Canary Capital followed that step several days later.
The former has yet to file the ETF with the US SEC (the agency that decides whether these funds will be approved), while the latter has already done so. ETF Store President Nate Geraci showed optimism on the ETF, saying, “Approval is a matter of when, not if.”
However, Geraci emphasized that approval of Ripple’s ETF largely depends on the US political environment. Nate believes a change in the US President or SEC administration could be critical for XRP’s ETF progress.
XRP ETF set to push its price to an all-time high
Ripple Labs filed a notice of cross-appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Oct. 10. This follows its ongoing legal battle with the US SEC.
Earlier this month, the SEC appealed a motion seeking to overturn the court’s ruling that programmatic sales of XRP to retail investors did not violate securities laws. Both appeals will now be merged into a single case.
Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, says that the cross-appeal filing aims to ensure that “nothing is left on the table.”
Alderoty expressed optimism about the appeal’s outcome, stating, “We look forward to the federal court of appeals finally putting a stake in the heart of [SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s] misguided attack on our industry.”
The altcoin’s performance remains stagnant as each regulatory progress brings a divided shift in prices. As of this writing, XRP is up 0.7% in the last 24 hours currently trading at $0.5414. However, trading volume decreased by 12.7% to $768 million.
Crypto market analysts predict that the token’s price could soar to $1.50 -$2.20 within months of an ETF approval. However, this exponential growth would be dependent on additional factors such as more institutional investment, broader market adoption, and crypto regulation.
Despite the price prediction, market traders warn of “the buy the rumor, sell the news” market phenomenon. This has been witnessed in Bitcoin and Ethereum markets since their ETFs were approved.
This year, Bitcoin has experienced monumental changes that should have pushed the price above $100K, but it has been stuck in the $60K range for months. An ETF does not necessarily mean a price spike.
If the $0.5414 level holds as resistance, XRP might fall more than 19% from its present trading level and retest its August 5 low of $0.431.
Coinglass’s on-chain data suggests that XRP could profit from a temporary price correction. The data suggest that XRP’s long-to-short ratio is trading at 0.9, its lowest level in a month.
