It looks like the race to launch an XRP ETF is picking up speed. Big names in finance – Grayscale, Nasdaq and CBOE – are making moves, each one filing applications with the SEC to bring XRP-based ETFs to market. It is not just one or two firms either; the momentum is growing. Grayscale wants to turn its XRP Trust into an ETF. Nasdaq is pushing for listings of XRP and Litecoin ETFs from CoinShares.
CBOE? It has multiple applications in, aiming to list an XRP ETF from four different asset managers: Canary, 21Shares, Bitwise and WisdomTree. The industry is clearly positioning itself for what could be a big shift in accessibility of XRP to institutional investors.
And yet, despite the enthusiasm, this is not something that is going to happen overnight. Well-known pro-XRP lawyer Jeremy Hogan has offered his take: approval is not necessarily the hard part. That could happen relatively quickly.
The real wait? That comes with the S-1 registration process. That is where things slow down. A more realistic timeline, he suggests, is somewhere in the range of eight to twelve months.
Yes, the approval can happen that fast, but then the S-1 has to be approved, etc. etc. So, think of it more like 8-12 months.
Thank God I don’t work on those for a living.
— Jeremy Hogan (@attorneyjeremy1) February 10, 2025
As for the SEC’s claims against Ripple – does this factor have any impact? Not really. The remaining legal matters, he says, are narrow in scope and mostly focus on specific sales of XRP on exchanges. What matters for ETF approval is already settled: XRP itself is not a security. That is the key takeaway when it comes to regulatory green lights.
So where does that leave us? Well, crypto-based ETFs are getting more attention, more money and more backing from major financial players. The demand is there, and firms are making their bets. It might take some time, but for those tracking the potential of XRP in the ETF space, the pieces are definitely falling into place.
