The legal groundwork was laid by notices published in the U.S. Federal Register: the SEC and CFTC classified $XRP as a qualifying digital commodity. This gave U.S. institutions direct access to trading the asset’s volatility through familiar and protected Canadian exchange-traded contracts.
Canadian banks do not like crypto. But they adopted $XRP anyway
The regulatory shift coincided with the first public filings from Canada’s largest banks, which have begun cautiously adding $XRP exposure to their disclosures. Form 13F-HR filings revealed that institutional players are gradually entering the sector through U.S. spot funds:
- National Bank of Canada reported a stake worth approximately $330,000 in the regulated Bitwise $XRP ETF.
- Bank of Montreal (BMO) also disclosed investments in $XRP products as part of the diversification of its large portfolios, following the broader trend.
For these banking giants, these are still tentative, exploratory steps. However, the precedent itself matters: banks do not touch “naked” tokens or crypto wallets on principle. They buy strictly regulated exchange-traded “wrappers” such as ETFs, confirming their confidence in the infrastructure that has been created.
The current success is the result of a strategy launched back in the summer of 2025. At that time, Canada became the first country in North America to launch fully physically backed spot $XRP ETFs on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), tied to the transparent CME CF $XRP-Dollar Reference Rate. Local investors immediately gained the right to hold them even in tax-advantaged accounts such as TFSAs and RRSPs.
An entire ecosystem developed in parallel, from the work of developers at the XRPL Canada hub to the adaptation of Canada’s Stablecoin Act under the direct supervision of the Bank of Canada. As a result, the Canadian financial system created a working precedent.
While the United States is still shaping the rules of the game, Canada has packaged the crypto asset into a product that the conservative market understands and has begun exporting it to American players.
