XRP ETFs poised to win the US approval race, report shows

The race to launch altcoin ETFs is heating up, and XRP ETFs might be leading the pack in terms of being the first approved, according to a new Kaiko Research report. 

XRP, Ripple’s native token, is the fourth-largest crypto by market cap, at $123.5 billion. The token’s price is up over 300% in the past year, but is still a far cry from the all-time high of $3.84 it hit in January 2018.

Analysts at Kaiko Research argue that among all altcoin ETFs, XRP ETFs have the best chance of being approved before Solana ETFs due to two drivers.

First: liquidity. The share of spot volume on US exchanges has “recently climbed to its highest level since before the SEC’s 2021 lawsuit prompted widespread delistings.”

Second, “the launch of a 2x XRP ETF last week positions XRP ahead of other assets when it comes to approval,” the analysts wrote.

Teucrium Investment Advisors launched that leveraged ETF mentioned in the report on April 8. Jake Hanley, Teucrium managing director, told Sherwood News that some questioned the timing of the launch, given current tariff-related volatility.

“Our instinct told us that there was demand for a 2x leveraged ETF, and we were right,” Hanley said.

XRP ETFs entered the race early, with filings from Grayscale, Bitwise, Canary, 21Shares, and WisdomTree. The SEC acknowledged a slew of them in February, meaning they’re a step ahead in the regulatory process. The deadline for approvals for most of these is in October.

Kaiko analysts noted, “May 22 is an important date to watch in light of the recent ETF approval of a 2x XRP ETF from Teucrium, as the SEC must respond to Grayscale’s XRP spot filing by then.”

XRP also holds the lion’s share of ETF filings, followed by solana, litecoin, dogecoin, and avalanche, the report found. 

Proshares, which just launched the first solana ETF in Canada, is taking advantage of the momentum around XRP, amending its January filing for three futures-based XRP ETFs on April 15 for a proposed April 30 launch, regulatory filings show.

Nic Puckrin, founder of Coin Bureau, told Sherwood that while many had been expecting solana ETFs to come first, it makes sense that XRP will be the first altcoin ETF approval, especially with Coinbase about to list XRP futures.

“Momentum is on Ripple’s side, with the SEC lawsuit now dropped and the recent acquisition of Hidden Road,” he said. “Plus, XRP has more interest in the US from retail investors than solana, and it’s in a strong position from the point of view of liquidity.”

Additionally, On April 16, Ripple and the SEC were officially granted a pause on appeals after a years-long legal battle, according to the filing posted by defense lawyer James K. Filan as the parties have “reached an agreement-in-principle” which signals this battle is ending.