It was a big deal when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approved the first spot Bitcoin (BTC +1.30%) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January 2024. Crypto investors also saw a sea change when the SEC gave the nod to Ethereum (ETH +3.74%) ETFs six months later.
These days, several fund manager firms are seeking approval for spot-priced XRP (XRP +1.07%) funds -- and the SEC is dragging its feet again. This week, regulators took one look at the waiting XRP ETF filings that were due for a decision and moved their deadlines to October instead.
CRYPTO: XRP
Key Data Points
A quick history of spot-ETF decisions in the crypto space
This calendar dance is nothing new. The SEC saw ETF decision deadlines looming for the Bitcoin and Ethereum funds many times over more than a decade of fund manager filings. Spot Bitcoin ETFs were launched in Canada three years before the American go-ahead. Fund manager Grayscale started its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC +2.49%) as a mutual fund in 2013 and almost immediately started pushing the SEC to allow that fund's conversion into a proper ETF.
And yes, XRP-related filings have been piling up. For example, Grayscale launched an XRP Trust mutual fund in September 2024 and wants to convert this instrument into an ETF.
The SEC dug into a familiar bag of tricks to push back all the XRP ETF decisions again. Other applicants include Cathie Wood's Ark Invest, CoinShares, and Bitwise. Furthermore, the sweeping October delays apply to a few Solana (SOL +2.55%) ETF projects, a proposed spot-price Litecoin (LTC +0.27%) fund, and a Grayscale Dogecoin (DOGE +2.28%) ETF idea -- and more.
I'd rather have bricks than straw in the regulatory crypto framework
The Trump administration calls itself crypto-friendly, and the current regulators have indeed taken several blockchain-friendly steps in 2025. They won't just rubber-stamp every incoming request for cryptocurrency-based financial instruments, though. Careful review of each filing is still necessary, and I think the crypto sector will benefit from this policy in the long run.
I'd much rather see a late but robust crypto-trading framework than a brittle rush job. It's like building a house out of bricks instead of straw or sticks. Even a mild crisis or challenge could blow those unstable houses down, and then cryptocurrency investors are back to square one -- no enforceable trading rules to speak of.
Image source: Getty Images.
October is the new decision day (in theory)
The SEC has circled a few different dates in October for these postponed ETF reviews. Only time will tell whether the agency follows through on its deadline this time or kicks the final decision a few weeks further away.
In the meantime, XRP prices rise and fall as the spot-priced ETFs get good or bad news. Keep in mind that the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF processes lifted the related cryptocurrency prices well ahead of the actual SEC approvals, to the point where Bitcoin prices fell in January 2024 and Ethereum's price dipped in July.
In other words, the mere discussion of upcoming XRP ETFs is already baked into the cryptocurrency price. A big price jump on the long-awaited ETF approval day would surprise me.
ETFs matter, but adoption of RippleNet is more important
So I'm not paying a ton of attention to the exact XRP ETF approval schedule. I'm pretty sure the ETFs will pop up fairly soon, with unpredictable effects on XRP's coin price. And in the end, this cryptocurrency's market value will depend on how broadly banks and governments around the world adopt XRP and the integrated RippleNet service to handle international money transfers.
ETFs may be a handy XRP-trading tool, but this fund class was a more significant addition for the "digital gold" alternative you know as Bitcoin. I'm not even an XRP buyer right now, as the coin soared to uncomfortably high prices last November. That said, I'm not selling my XRP coins in 2025, either. It's a long-term investment idea going through some overly bullish turbulence recently.
