Today XRP is green. Please read, everyone:
SEC approval for the launch of leveraged, short-term XRP futures ETFs on April 30.
According to filings submitted to the SEC that Cryptopolitan reviewed, ProShares will launch three futures ETFs tracking the price of XRP on April 30.
The three products are called Ultra XRP ETF, Short XRP ETF, and Ultra Short XRP ETF. Each product offers different levels of exposure to XRP price volatility, with Ultra XRP ETF providing 2x leverage, Short XRP ETF betting against XRP's price, and Ultra Short XRP ETF offering -2x leverage.
These ETFs were first proposed in January and were finally greenlit after the SEC declined to oppose them during the review period.
These three ProShares funds will become the second, third, and fourth ETFs tracking XRP available in the U.S. market. However, ProShares is still awaiting SEC approval for its spot XRP ETF application, which is stuck along with similar proposals from Grayscale, 21Shares, and Bitwise, according to The Block's ETF Tracker.
Earlier this month, Teucrium Investment Advisors LLC, a Vermont-based company, beat all competitors by launching the first XRP futures ETF in the U.S. Teucrium's ETF provides access to leveraged XRP without needing to actually hold the token.
Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, posted on X that, "It's odd (perhaps for the first time) that the first ETF of a new asset is leveraged. Spot XRP has not yet been approved, [although] our chances are quite high."
CME Group will add XRP futures contracts as ProShares launches its ETF.
Shortly after the news about ProShares, CME Group, the largest derivatives exchange in the U.S., announced plans to add XRP futures contracts to its product lineup. CME has listed futures contracts for BTC, ETH, and SOL, and XRP will now join that list if everything goes as planned. This move comes amid a context where, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, regulators like the CFTC and SEC have taken a much less aggressive stance towards the cryptocurrency industry.
CME stated that it will introduce two types of XRP futures contracts: a small contract linked to 2,500 XRP and a larger contract linked to 50,000 XRP. Both will be cash-settled and priced based on the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, updated once daily at 4:00 PM Eastern Time.
Current market data shows XRP trading around $2, up about 1% in the last 24 hours, based on figures from CoinGecko. If CME adds XRP, it will become the fourth cryptocurrency available for futures trading on this platform, alongside BTC, ETH, and SOL.
The decision to include XRP is not coincidental. The fourth-largest cryptocurrency now has a market capitalization of over $127 billion, becoming the fourth-largest token in the market.
The backing entity is Ripple, which has a strong lobbying presence in Washington, D.C., continuously pushing for legal frameworks favorable to the development of blockchain.
However, Ripple's strong push for XRP adoption has not always been embraced by the broader cryptocurrency community. The so-called XRP Army has sometimes launched antagonistic campaigns against other blockchain projects to promote its own agenda.
Ripple also criticizes Bitcoin's energy-intensive proof-of-work system, instead viewing XRP as a cleaner and more sustainable option.