The cryptocurrency market is seeing some exciting developments as legal cases surrounding crypto firms have begun to be dropped. This shift in legal uncertainties could pave the way for new financial products like Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and futures for these assets.
Legal Battles Out of the Way
Several SEC cases that once clouded the future of popular cryptocurrencies have been dropped, removing much of the uncertainty that loomed over assets like XRP, Solana, and Cardano. With these cases out of the way, questions about whether these coins are securities, as seen in cases with Robinhood, Coinbase, and Kraken, are now less pressing.
Bloomberg ETF analyst, James Seyffart, in an interview with Thinking Crypto, explained that these cryptocurrencies were once directly mentioned in the SEC cases, making exchanges operating with them unregistered securities exchanges. With these legal challenges fading, there is now a clearer path for these coins to participate in future financial products.
XRP’s Complicated Legal Path
While XRP is not entirely free from legal concerns, its situation is more complicated. Ripple’s direct lawsuit with the SEC is still ongoing, and the outcome of this case could determine whether XRP can participate in an ETF or other financial products. Though some parts of the case have been won by Ripple and others appealed, Seyffart believes that an XRP ETF is still a strong possibility in the future, despite the complexity of its legal standing.
“XRP is a little different because they have the direct lawsuit between Ripple and the SEC that’ll likely need to be sorted before we can see an ETF on there. I think it’s also a little different in the sense that I don’t know that it’s going to be like fully dropped in the way that some of these other ones are. There’s probably going to be some sort of settlement. I don’t know who knows how it’s actually going to play out,” he said.
The Future of XRP Futures
As the market looks forward to the possibility of XRP futures, Seyffart noted that while XRP futures don’t exist yet, they could be launched soon, especially as legal barriers decrease. He emphasized that spot products, including ETFs that hold these cryptocurrencies directly, would likely be the most successful in the U.S. market.
