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SEC paves way for speedier crypto ETF listings as XRP and dogecoin ETFs launch

Rex Osprey launched the first spot XRP and doge ETFs today, while Grayscale will soon launch its just-approved multi-asset fund.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Today is a big day for crypto ETFs, as the SEC approved generic listing standards, paving the way for speedier listings and opening the floodgates for these products. Two new altcoin ETFs hit the market today, the Rex-Osprey XRP ETF and Rex-Osprey DOGE ETF , which began trading this morning, marking the first spot dogecoin and XRP ETFs available in the US for these assets.

“This approval helps to maximize investor choice and foster innovation by streamlining the listing process and reducing barriers to access digital asset products within America’s trusted capital markets,” SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said in the announcement.

Additionally, the SEC approved Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund, which includes bitcoin, ethereum, and cardano, in the release.

Krista Lynch, Grayscale’s senior vice president of ETF Capital Markets, told Sherwood News that the fund will be the first investment vehicle to hold five different crypto assets.

“It delivers diversified exposure through a single product, similar to the broad-based equity indices that helped ETFs achieve mainstream adoption in traditional markets,” she said. “It’s a pivotal step forward in making crypto more accessible to investors.”

Lynch said the SEC ruling is “an incredibly exciting milestone.” She added that “the Generic Listing Standards make roughly a dozen additional tokens eligible for ETP inclusion, many of which fall into the ‘altcoin’ category. We expect this will spark a wave of new products offering exposure to these assets, with the first of them likely arriving in the fall and expanding from there.”

Mangirdas Ptašinskas, head of marketing and community at Galxe, told Sherwood that the ruling couldn’t have come at a better time, following the Fed’s rate cut decision.

“Over the next few weeks, we could see a slew of altcoin ETF launches as a result, just in time for investors to rotate out of lower-risk investments like money market funds in search of higher returns,” Ptašinskas said.

As of the end of August, there already were more than 90 crypto ETF filings.

Marco Margiotta, CEO of House of Doge, the corporate arm of the Dogecoin Foundation, told Sherwood that dogecoin ETFs are another step forward in DOGE’s transition into mainstream finance.

“The approval isn’t just a market milestone. It’s a vindication of everything our partners at the Dogecoin Foundation have championed for years: that dogecoin is more than a meme; it’s a global currency,” Margiotta said.

Doge, the eighth-largest crypto by market cap, has jumped more than 6% in the past 24 hours and is up 172% in the past year. Meanwhile, XRP, Ripple’s native token and the third-largest crypto by market cap, is up 3.5% in the past 24 hours and 434% in the past year.

These developments have lifted the crypto market overall, reaching a $4.2 trillion market cap.

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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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