XRP ETFs Coming Soon? Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Is Confident

Ripple's Brad Garlinghouse believes the approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds will open the door to other cryptocurrencies like XRP.

Cryptocurrency XRP is likely to be included in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that will be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has said.

Even though Ripple is engaged in a legal battle with the SEC, Garlinghouse is optimistic that the regulator will eventually permit spot XRP ETFs, as reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday.

The SEC has recently approved the launch of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs by prominent Wall Street companies on U.S. stock exchanges. However, the regulator apparently didn’t want to approve the ETFs, but it did so begrudgingly, according to Garlinghouse.

Earlier this month, Bitwise filed paperwork with the SEC for an XRP ETF that would give investors direct exposure to XRP without having to directly hold or buy the asset.

The filing came as a surprise because Ripple has been mired in a legal fight with the SEC since December 2020. Shortly after Bitwise’s move, Canary Capital, a new asset management firm founded by former Valkyrie Funds co-founder Steven McClurg, also filed for an application to launch a spot XRP ETF.

According to Garlinghouse, the introduction of an XRP ETF is “just inevitable,” adding that there’s “demand from institutions and retail to access this asset class.”

The Ripple chief has also forecasted that a spot XRP investment product would do “quite well” owing to a thriving community around the XRP ecosystem.

Garlinghouse went on to say that exchange-traded funds are a key bullish catalyst for cryptocurrencies, including XRP, noting that these vehicles cause crypto prices to experience “upward pressure.”

It’s worth mentioning that the SEC might not immediately approve an XRP ETF, given the ongoing spat with Ripple. Back in 2020, the agency slapped the company with an eye-popping $1.3 billion lawsuit, alleging that it sold unregistered securities in the form of XRP.

Last year, Ripple notched a major court win against the SEC when a judge ruled that programmatic sales of XRP to retail investors were not securities. The judge, however, ruled that $728 million worth of contracts for institutional sales qualified as unregistered securities, but the news was widely hailed as a win.

Following the judgment, the SEC sought a hefty $2 billion fine from Ripple. Much to the regulator’s chagrin, a New York court then ordered the company to pay just a $125 million fine, which was again touted as a huge victory for Ripple and the crypto industry at large.

The SEC has recently lodged an appeal against the judge’s ruling. However, the regulator is not challenging the non-security status of the controversial XRP token.

According to data tracked by CoinGecko, the price of XRP is still 84.5% down from its lifetime high of $3.40 set in January 2018. The seventh-largest crypto by market cap was trading hands for $0.5297 as of press time, reflecting a loss of 10.3% over the last month.

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