On Nov. 25, WisdomTree assets management firm filed for an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETP) in Delaware.
This action indicates that the firm intends to submit a more comprehensive application to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The company is an early applicant for the XRP ETF in the United States, joining Bitwise, Canary Capital, and 21Shares. Nevertheless, the SEC has yet to approve any such applications at the time of this article’s publication.
XRP Exchange-traded fund
WisdomTree’s filing coincides with what may be a critical juncture for XRP. A judge ruled in July 2023 that XRP was not a security, granting Ripple.
This San Francisco-based company created the XRP cryptocurrency, a partial victory in a years-long battle against an SEC lawsuit.
The SEC submitted its official appeal on Oct. 2, 2024, one day before the court’s deadline. It was subsequently granted a request to postpone the opening brief until Jan. 15, 2025.
Top-down regulatory reform
The president-elect’s transition team has been agitated due to Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 US presidential election in early November.
Although there has been no explicit reference to the Ripple lawsuit, and the President-elect has not yet indicated whether his administration will pursue the current cryptocurrency lawsuits filed by the SEC, analysts are anticipating a significant shift in the federal government’s approach to cryptocurrency regulation and oversight.
Trump pledged to establish the United States as the global hub for blockchain, cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin as part of the Republican campaign platform.
Additionally, he has criticized the federal government’s management of cryptocurrency during the tenure of President Joseph Biden and current SEC chief Gary Gensler.
Nevertheless, the nation will be under a completely distinct financial governance framework once Trump assumes office.
This regime will entail the appointment of conservative appointees to the topmost positions in the Treasury offices, subject to approval, and the departure of Gensler from the SEC.
In the end, President-elect Trump may establish a regulatory regime amenable to dismissing the longstanding lawsuits against companies like Ripple.
This would likely facilitate the establishment of an XRP ETF, potentially at a faster pace than analysts had previously anticipated.
