tl;dr
Franklin Templeton, one of the world's largest asset managers, plans to launch an ETF tracking the spot price of Ripple's XRP token. This follows a surge in spot altcoin ETF applications, with 17 XRP ETF filings pending SEC response. Meanwhile, the SEC has delayed approvals for various crypto ETFs, ...
Franklin Templeton plans to launch an XRP ETF to track spot price, joining 17 other pending XRP ETF filings with the SEC
Bitwise launches a new ETF holding stocks of companies with large Bitcoin treasuries
SEC delays approval for various altcoin ETFs, extending review period until May 21
Franklin Templeton, one of the world's largest asset managers, plans to launch an ETF tracking the spot price of Ripple's XRP token. This follows a surge in spot altcoin ETF applications, with 17 XRP ETF filings pending SEC response.
Meanwhile, the SEC has delayed approvals for various crypto ETFs, with a new deadline set for May. Additionally, Bitwise has launched an ETF holding stocks of companies with large Bitcoin treasuries.
One of the world’s largest asset managers, Franklin Templeton, is planning to launch an ETF that will track the spot price of the Ripple cross-border payment token XRP. The firm made a preliminary prospectus filing for the product with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 11.
The filing is the latest in a slew of spot altcoin ETF applications by asset managers, who expect a more receptive approach from the SEC during the Trump administration.
Franklin’s XRP ETF is set for listing on the Cboe BZX Exchange while Coinbase has been appointed as the custodian for the fund’s holdings. In February, Franklin Templeton also filed for an ETF that will track the spot price of Solana (SOL).
On March 7, Volatility Shares filed three XRP ETF applications: one for a straight spot fund, one for a 2x leveraged XRP fund, and one for a -1x XRP ETF. There are now 17 XRP ETF filings pending a response from the US securities regulator.
They include issuers Bitwise, Grayscale, 21Shares, WisdomTree, Canary Capital, CoinShares, Invesco, VanEck, Fidelity, Ark Invest, Galaxy Digital, ProShares, Hashdex, and Volatility Shares.
XRP made a minor recovery, gaining 4% over the past 24 hours to reach $2.15 at the time of writing, though it remains down 13% over the past week.
In related news, Bitwise launched an ETF holding stocks of companies with large Bitcoin treasuries on March 11. The Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF (OWNB) “seeks to track the Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations Index, a new equity index of companies with at least 1,000 Bitcoin in their corporate treasuries,” the firm stated.
At launch, the top five holdings of the index were Strategy 21%, MARA Holdings 12%, CleanSpark just over 6%, Riot Platforms 6%, and Boyaa Interactive just under 6%.
Meanwhile, Cboe BZX is seeking permission from the SEC to incorporate staking into Fidelity’s ETH ETF, according to a March 11 19b-4 rule change filing.
It has been a busy week for crypto ETFs as the SEC issued a notice on Tuesday extending the review period for NYSE Arca’s proposed rule change to list and trade shares of the Grayscale XRP Trust to May 21.
The regulator also pushed back approvals for the VanEck Spot Solana ETF, Canary Spot Litecoin ETF, Canary Spot Solana ETF, Canary Spot XRP ETF, and Grayscale Spot Dogecoin ETF.
Issuers now have to wait until May, the new deadline for the SEC to either approve, reject, or delay the process.