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XRP logo (Dominika Zarzycka/Getty Images)

Ripple’s token ticks up as first leveraged XRP ETF hits market

Ripple also announced it’s acquiring prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion.

It’s a good day for Ripple and its native token, XRP. Just a few weeks after the SEC dropped its appeal against the company, the first-ever XRP-based ETF is hitting the market. Teucrium Investment Advisors launched a leveraged ETF linked to XRP, which starts trading today on NYSE Arca under the ticker XXRP, according to the fund’s prospectus.

Jake Hanley, managing director and senior portfolio specialist at Teucrium, said the firm is “very excited to be the first XRP-based ETF to launch in the US and under a great ticker.”

While there are a slew of spot XRP ETF filings — which are still pending SEC approval — including from Grayscale, Bitwise, Canary, 21Shares, and WisdomTree, this is the “first-ever XRP ETF on the market.” Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst, noted the “very odd” order of operations:

In February, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts put the odds of a spot XRP ETF approval at 65%.

When Sherwood News asked why the firm opted to launch a leveraged ETF, Hanley said that if you want exposure to XRP, you “can just go on any crypto platform and buy it.” 

“We wanted something easy for double exposure,” he said, adding that this ETF met a need and that the firm has experience in leveraged vehicles.

Hanley said that this is a trading vehicle “designed for short-term, sophisticated day traders who want to position themselves to benefit from moves in XRP.”

He predicted that several other XRP derivative ETFs will hit the market “in a matter of weeks.”

“We’re happy to be first,” he said.

XRP is the fourth-largest crypto by market cap, at $114 billion, and is up 220% since a year ago.

Michael Repetny, core contributor at Marinade, said the launch underscores the growing appetite on Wall Street and among investors for more crypto ETFs.

“Altcoin ETFs, like XRP, benefit the crypto industry by introducing regulated financial products, increasing investor confidence, and potentially opening the gates to a wider range of institutional investors,” Repetny said. 

In other Ripple news, the company announced this morning it’s acquiring prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, “one of the largest deals in the digital assets space,” the press release said.

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, wrote:

“We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption — the US market is effectively open for the first time due to the regulatory overhang of the former SEC coming to an end, and the market is maturing to address the needs of traditional finance. With these tailwinds, we are continuing to pursue opportunities to massively transform the space, leveraging our position and the strengths of XRP to accelerate our business and enhance our current solutions and technology.”

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$1.2B

XRP ETFs have now crossed $1 billion in assets since the funds launched, according to SoSoValue, which shows total assets of $1.18 billion.

In September, the SEC approved generic listing standards, which paved the way for speedier listings and opened the floodgates for these products, and shortly after, Rex-Osprey launched the first spot XRP ETF available in the US.

Canary followed suit in November, launching an ETF trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker XRPC, which saw a record $58.5 million in trading volume on its first day. It’s the largest XRP ETF in the US, with $342 million in assets.

Grayscale, Bitwise, and Franklin Templeton also launched their own XRP ETFs in November. On December 11, 21Shares joined the XRP fund party.

It’s a noteworthy green shoot in the crypto space, as bitcoin and its ETFs have struggled, and XRP itself is down nearly 15% over the past month.

Jake Hanley, managing director and senior portfolio specialist at Teucrium Investment Advisors — which launched the first-ever XRP-based ETF in April, the 2x Long Daily XRP ETF — told Sherwood News that he is not surprised to see this level of interest in the XRP ETFs.

“We have long held that XRP and the Ripple ecosystem present a unique investment case among crypto assets. Crossing the $1 billion mark is yet another signal of the significant vote of confidence investors have in this increasingly important asset and ecosystem,” Hanley said.

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New bitcoin AfterDark ETF will be bitcoin at night, Treasurys by day

Tidal Trust II submitted form N-1A with the SEC to register a bitcoin ETF designed to systemically capture the cryptocurrency’s overnight return profile, a time window that delivered a significant portion of bitcoin’s upside last year.

The Nicholas Bitcoin and Treasuries AfterDark ETF provides long bitcoin exposure during US overnight hours, from the closing bell until the following morning’s market open, when the fund intends to unwind its positions, according to a document filed with the SEC on Tuesday. 

To gain that exposure, the ETF may use a number of methods, including bitcoin futures contracts, US-listed ETFs, or exchange-traded options on such bitcoin underlying funds. When the market is open and daytime trading is active, the fund’s portfolio will consist of US Treasury securities and other cash equivalents. 

In 2024, most of bitcoin’s gains occurred after-hours, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported:

The AfterDark ETF filing comes as bitcoin crossed $94,000 on Tuesday, rising 4.5% in the last 24 hours. Even though spot bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $60.5 million in outflows on Monday, the investment vehicles have a cumulative net inflow of $57.6 billion, per SoSoValue.

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