US SEC Unlikely To Approve Spot XRP ETFs: Experts

cryptonews.com:

Jeffrey Gogo is a journalist with 20 years of experience in business, finance, cryptocurrency, and climate change news and analysis.

Elena is the Features Lead at Cryptonews.com. With a Master's degree in science journalism from City University, London, she is passionate about exploring complex topics in the world of technology.

Key takeaways:

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is unlikely to approve exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking XRP anytime soon, at least not until Ripple Labs’ legal battle with the regulator is fully settled, some experts told Cryptonews.

This comes after crypto asset manager Bitwise and Nashville-based firm Canary Capital filed applications to issue exchange-traded funds based on the XRP cryptocurrency earlier in October.

The push for XRP exchange-traded funds follows the successful launch of several spot Bitcoin ETFs in January and Ethereum ETFs in July. The SEC had repeatedly rejected the funds, worried about investor protection.

But the regulator lost a lawsuit brought by Grayscale Investments, forcing it to approve the ETFs. In approving the funds, SEC Chair Gary Gensler warned Bitcoin remains a “volatile asset” and investors should be careful.

Since their debut, Bitcoin ETFs have attracted more than $19 billion in capital from institutional and retail investors, according to Sosovalue data, making them the “most successful ETFs in history.” Meanwhile, total Ethereum net inflows had reached $558.9 million, as of Oct. 14.

According to three market analysts who spoke to Cryptonews, the SEC is unlikely to approve spot XRP ETFs as long as court challenges regarding the token’s legal status as a “security or commodity” are not resolved.

Yuriy Brisov, partner at UK-based crypto law firm