On Friday, crypto asset manager 21Shares filed an S-1 registration form for the local XRP ETF with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to establish the 21Shares Core XRP Trust.
This fill is next similar applications from other firms, including Canary Capital and Bitwise in recent months, as interest in crypto ETFs grows, especially after the successful approval of the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF earlier this year.
21Shares XRP ETF Files Amid Strong Demand
I to fill shows strong demand for other crypto investments, especially since Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have gained momentum among investors. However, the road to XRP ETF approval is fraught with uncertainty.
The SEC has been scrutinizing the crypto space closely, especially in regards to its ongoing legal battle with Ripple Labs, which has a major impact on the XRP split.
The SEC argued that XRP should be considered a security under the Howey test, a legal framework used to determine whether certain transactions qualify as investment contracts.
This regulatory ambiguity poses major challenges to the approval of three XRP ETF applications by asset managers currently under review.
Trump and Harris Signal Potential Regulatory Changes
While there is optimism among some industry leaders, including Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who recently said that the launch of an XRP ETF in the US is “inevitable,” it remains to be seen how the SEC will respond to these new requests.
Which adds another layer of complexity to the upcoming US presidential election. Both candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, have signed intentions to change the current regulatory environment in cryptocurrencies, which could lead to greater clarity and potentially better conditions for crypto assets moving forward.
Such changes, if actually completed, could pave the way not only for the approval of new XRP ETF applications but also for other newly filed forms, including those of Solana and Litecoin.
At the time of writing, XRP was trading at $0.52, up more than 2% following the announcement of the new listing.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
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