Cboe Pushes for Four Fresh XRP ETFs as Crypto Market Cools

On Thursday, Chicago’s Cboe Exchange submitted four separate applications to the Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking approval to list and trade spot XRP ETFs from WisdomTree, Bitwise, 21Shares, and Canary.

Major asset managers are now vying to launch the first spot XRP ETFs in the U.S., following Bitcoin and Ethereum’s breakthroughs last year, even though some on Wall Street have yet to see “full-throated demand” for crypto ETFs.

And even with the increased attention from issuers, the world’s fourth-largest crypto has continued to fall, down 25% over the last two weeks after edging close to its all-time high just below $3.40 in late January.

It’s part of a broader crypto slump this year, which has continued to cool following a heady rally late last year following President Donald Trump’s victory to a second term.

In any case, Thursday’s filings, alongside others this year, would push XRP into uncharted territory, as the asset has yet to receive the clear regulatory status granted to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

All four applicants lean heavily on July 2023’s partial victory in the ongoing SEC v. Ripple Labs case, which seeks to establish whether XRP—a digital asset closely associated with Ripple—should be classified as a security under Federal law.

Cboe “believes it is applying proper legal standards in making a good faith determination that XRP is not under these circumstances a security under federal law,” the filings state.

The applications come amid an ongoing SEC appeal of the Ripple ruling to the Second Circuit, in which the regulator seeks to reverse the classification and overturn the decision that held that programmatic XRP sales to retail investors did not constitute investment contracts.

Unlike previous crypto ETF approvals, XRP lacks an established CME futures market, a key requirement that the SEC had sought during its approval for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

It follows Cboe’s filings for four separate Solana ETFs last week, which were submitted again after addressing the SEC’s concerns last year. Those included concerns centered on market integrity, investor protections, and regulatory uncertainty.

Asset managers are implementing protective measures to bolster their chances of regulatory approval, including sourcing the token from secondary markets rather than directly from Ripple Labs, according to the text of WisdomTree’s filing.

The move aims to distance the ETF from Ripple Labs, which remains closely associated with XRP but has no formal affiliation with the proposed fund.

Measures, such as surveillance and market monitoring, custody with licensed third-party custodians, holding XRP in cold storage, and a means to halt intraday trading, meanwhile, aim to shore up concerns previously flagged in the past.

The SEC has 45 days to review the applications once published in the Federal Register, with possible extensions of up to 90 days.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair