The cryptocurrency investment firm Canary Capital has officially filed a proposal for an XRP ETF with U.S. regulators this past Tuesday. This filing comes a week after asset manager Bitwise submitted its own application for an XRP ETF.
The Canary fund aims to provide investors with exposure to XRP without the risks associated with directly buying and holding the cryptocurrency on exchanges. Canary Capital’s ETF is expected to track the price of XRP through the CF Ripple Index from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in real-time.
Canary Capital has stated that it will not use derivative products to track XRP prices, intending to minimize credit and counterparty risks. The company expects this design will allow investors to allocate assets more efficiently and flexibly compared to directly trading XRP.
Canary Capital has yet to announce the fund manager or the ticker symbol once listed. Steven McClurg, the founder of Canary Capital, commented:
We see a progressively advancing regulatory environment, coupled with strong demand from investors seeking access to more complex crypto products beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, especially enterprise blockchain solutions and native tokens like XRP.
If approved by the SEC, these will be the first spot XRP ETFs in the U.S. However, the approval process may face challenges due to the ongoing legal dispute between the SEC and Ripple, the issuer of XRP. The SEC alleges that XRP is an unregistered security and that Ripple raised $1.3 billion through XRP sales.
Although Ripple agreed to pay a $125 million fine in early August, the SEC has continued its appeal to the Court of Appeals, extending the legal battle that has been ongoing for four years.
Additionally, Grayscale has also recently announced an investment fund for XRP.
Related: SEC Files Appeal Against Ripple (XRP)
XRP is currently trading around $0.533, up slightly by 0.5% on the day and remaining relatively unchanged compared to the previous week.