The approval of several Bitcoin spot ETFs in early January sparked a lot of speculation about which cryptocurrency will be the next to get ETF listings.
Some of the strongest contenders include Ethereum, Solana, Cardano and even Polkadot.
But what about XRP?
XRP has all of the qualifications of a possible ETF, including a $28 billion market cap, and the fact that it was designed specifically for banks and other financial institutions.
We state all of this without mentioning how sometime in mid-2023, a US district Judge ruled that XRP (which the SEC and Ripple had been fighting over for three years), were indeed "not" securities.
How easy would it be for Ripple to file for and have an XRP ETF approved?
Let's find out:
According to a recent tweet from Fox Business correspondent Eleanor Terett, the road to an XRP ETF might be longer than anyone realizes.
Terett in the tweet, highlighted a crucial step to getting any spot ETF (including one from XRP) approved:
Futures ETFs.
Recall that before the spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved, futures ETFs had been approved long before.
Terett thinks that for XRP to have a spot-based ETF, it needs to get a futures-based ETF approved.
Considering Terett's points, XRP currently has no ETF filings on the SEC's desk, indicating that investors might have to wait a while longer.
Moreover, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart doesn't seem to think so either. In a recent interview with Thinking Crypto's Tony Edward on 11 January Seyffart stated that an XRP ETF was a "remote possibility", and that it had a very slim chance of happening soon.
According to a recent job listing from Ripple, the company is looking for "a Senior Manager for Business Development".
This job opening wasn't the interesting part of Ripple's post.
The interesting part was one of the key responsibilities to be assigned to whoever they picked. The job ad was looking for someone to "drive cryptocurrency-related ETF initiatives with internal trading teams and relevant partners."
As expected, the crypto community has jumped into a wave of speculation, pondering why Ripple might need an ETF professional, if it wasn't planning on offering one.
Take a look at this tweet:
In the video, Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse was asked about whether we might be seeing a Ripple ETF during a January interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
What is interesting about Garlinghouse's reaction is that he playfully refrained from giving either a yes or no answer to the question, right after announcing that other ETFs are "on the horizon".
Moreover, when asked by Eleanor Terett about whether a futures ETF was necessary for the approval of a spot ETF, Bloomberg ETF analyst, James Seyffart responded that a futures ETF is not required. However, what might be required is a regulated market that can be monitored.
As in Bitcoin's case, this "regulated market" was the CME bitcoin futures market.
Will we be seeing an XRP ETF soon? Only time will tell.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, XRP has been struggling in terms of price as of late.
The cryptocurrency has been stuck in the middle of a volatility hole, resulting in stagnant prices and a -1.84% dip over the last week.
In the charts, we can see that XRP is currently trading inside a symmetric triangle.
The interesting thing about this setup is that Ripple could either be about to enter a massive rally to the top of the formation again, or about to break through to the underside.
In the bullish scenario, the price targets for XRP include a rally to anywhere between $0.75 (45% rally) and 0.95 (89% rally).
However, if Ripple breaks below $0.47 and stays there, the resulting decline could be drastic and may lead to a retest of $0.3.
Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information, but it will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.