Canary Funds’ XRP Trust could become the first pure spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) to list in the United States, following the firm’s filing of Form 8-A with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.
The filing, according to Bloomberg’s ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, signals the fund’s readiness for trading and represents the final procedural step before activation. A successful ETF launch could expand XRP’s liquidity base and potentially trigger inflows from registered investment advisers who previously avoided direct crypto exposure.
Once the Nasdaq certifies the listing — expected by 5:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday — the ETF will become effective, clearing the last regulatory hurdle for a Thursday market open. The product will fall under the Securities Act of 1933, allowing for direct exposure to XRP rather than futures or hybrid structures.
The approval would mark a milestone for Ripple’s ecosystem and the broader crypto market, arriving nearly two years after spot bitcoin ETFs debuted in January 2024.
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Canary’s ETF provides full, one-to-one spot XRP backing held in custody with a regulated trust, unlike REX-Osprey’s recently debuted $XRPR ETF, which operates under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and offers only partial XRP exposure through a mixed-asset structure.
The partial exposure results in higher tracking costs and less favorable tax treatement.
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CoinDesk analysis suggests that Canary’s debut may facilitate cleaner price discovery and serve as a test case for whether institutional capital will shift into altcoin-based products beyond Bitcoin and Ether.
XRP traded near $2.48 in Asian morning hours on Wednesday, down 5% in 24 hours alongside a broader market slide.
With spot ether ETFs now live and solana applications still pending, the XRP approval could cement a new phase of asset diversification in the U.S. crypto ETF landscape — one that extends beyond the big two networks – Bitcoin and Ethereum – into networks with defined payment and settlement use cases.
