President of The ETF Store Raises Question as SEC Approves ProShares XRP ETF

Nate Geraci, the President of The ETF Store, has commented on the recently approved XRP ETFs of asset manager ProShares.

Notably, the U.S. SEC raised no objections to ProShares Trust’s request to launch multiple ETFs linked to XRP. The funds are called ProShares Short XRP ETF, ProShares Ultrashort XRP ETF, and ProShares Ultra XRP ETF. 

While the Short XRP ETF allows investors to profit from XRP’s price dip, the Ultra XRP ETF targets twice the daily return of XRP’s performance. On the other hand, the Ultrashort XRP ETF delivers twice the inverse of XRP’s daily performance. 

In an updated filing earlier this month, ProShares picked April 30 as the target date for the ETFs’ launch. It submitted the filing under a procedural mechanism that allows the ETFs to launch without extensive review from the SEC or outright approval from the commission, provided no objections are raised before the effective date. 

So far, the commission has not raised any objections, meaning that the ProShares XRP ETFs will become effective by Wednesday, April 30. While the funds may become effective on April 30, trading will only begin based on the readiness of the exchange where the products will debut and other operational factors. 

ETF Store President Raises “Good Question”

The upcoming launch of ProShares XRP ETF has sparked mixed reactions among crypto community members, with Geraci commenting on the development. 

Geraci emphasized that the upcoming XRP ETFs are not spot products, meaning they will not hold XRP directly. According to him, all three ProShares XRP ETFs are leveraged and inverse products providing investors with XRP exposure through derivatives. 

He mentioned that a 2x Long XRP ETF (XXRP) is already trading in the market. This product, launched by Teucrium earlier this month, uses a swap agreement to deliver 2x XRP’s daily return. XXRP currently has an AUM of $42.79 million. 

Notably, Geraci raised what he called a ‘good question,’ asking why the SEC had chosen to approve multiple XRP futures ETFs before spot versions. 

The SEC has been reluctant to approve at least one of the multiple applications seeking to launch spot XRP ETFs. Top asset managers like Grayscale, Bitwise, and Franklin are awaiting the SEC’s decision to proceed with the launch of these spot ETFs. 

While the SEC carefully reviews all spot XRP ETF applications for risk controls, future versions are not subject to such scrutiny. 

Will SEC Approve Spot XRP ETFs in 2025?

In the meantime, investors have remained optimistic that the SEC will approve the launch of spot XRP ETFs this year, with Polymarket highlighting a 78% chance. 

The SEC has already agreed to resolve its legal dispute with Ripple. Several crypto entities, including Coinbase and Bitnomial, have also launched XRP futures, an essential criterion for the launch of spot XRP ETFs. 

Despite these, whether the SEC will approve at least one XRP spot ETF for launch this year remains to be seen. The commission has an October deadline to decide whether these products will be approved or disapproved.