The Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has set itself a deadline for a decision on whether it will allow an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the price of XRP (XRP).
The SEC acknowledged a 19b-4 filing by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and asset manager Grayscale, which is the first time it has responded to a filing regarding the crypto asset. This means that the Commission now has up to 240 days to make a decision on the filing.
While the regulator has previously acknowledged several other applications for crypto-focused ETFs, including for Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE), this latest acknowledgement is is significant given that the SEC’s ongoing lawsuit against Ripple, the issuer of XRP.
The SEC sued Ripple in December 2020 for allegedly violating U.S. securities laws by selling XRP as an unregistered security to raise funds. Ripple won the court case partially in August 2023 and XRP was deemed a non-security when sold on secondary markets by a federal judge.
The SEC filed an appeal in the case on Jan. 15 — five days before Donald Trump assumed office as U.S. President — arguing that Ripple’s approach to selling XRP met the tenets of the Howey Test, a Supreme Court precedent used as a common standard for identifying securities.
“They could have easily rejected this filing,” said Nate Geraci, President of the ETF Store in a post on X. “Enormous message [in my opinion.]”
Last week, Bloomberg ETF analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas predicted a 65% chance for an XRP ETF to be approved by the end of 2025. The two analysts gave the highest chances to a LTC ETF (90%), followed by DOGE (75%) and SOL (65%).
All of the current outstanding ETF applications for those assets will receive a decision in October.