#AirdropStepByStep Crypto Gives Back Gains Amid Tariff Worries, $XRP ETF Goes Live, and Tether Weighs US-Only Stablecoin 🪙 After a wave of liquidations and a steep sell-off, the crypto markets rallied Wednesday when President Donald Trump announced a pause on tariffs: The price of bitcoin and ether surged Wednesday after President Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs for countries that had not put retaliatory tariffs on the US. But crypto prices quickly gave back those gains on Thursday amid a broader market sell-off.

Teucrium launched the first XRP ETF in the US: Trading under the ticker "XXRP," the ETF has drawn inflows by offering leveraged exposure to XRP price movements. Meanwhile, spot XRP ETFs could be approved later this year.

Trading under the ticker XXRP, the leveraged ETF is designed to deliver twice the daily performance of XRP, the world's fourth-largest cryptocurrency. The fund began trading on the NYSE Arca and charges a 1.85% management fee while offering monthly distributions.

Grayscale, WisdomTree, and others have applied for spot XRP ETFs, but SEC approval for a non-leveraged version remains pending. Some analysts have noted that the probability of spot XRP ETF approval appears to be increasing after Ripple Labs’ recent settlement with the SEC resolving longstanding legal disputes about XRP’s classification as a security.

Meanwhile, XRP issuer Ripple Labs has agreed to acquire prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, according to a company statement Tuesday. Ripple plans to use its stablecoin as collateral for the company’s prime brokerage products and conduct transactions on the XRP blockchain.