Bitwise and Grayscale have disclosed fees for their proposed exchange-traded funds tracking the price of XRP as firms gain steam to launch their products, some without the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's sign-off.
Over the weekend, Bitwise said it would implement a 0.34% fee for its Bitwise XRP ETF, and on Monday, Grayscale disclosed a 0.35% fee, according to their respective filings. Grayscale also disclosed the same fee for its Dogecoin ETF.
Last week, Bitwise and Grayscale launched ETFs tracking the price of SOL, bringing in millions of dollars. Bitwise's SOL ETF brought in $56 million on day one, the most of any ETF launch this year. Canary Capital also launched funds tracking Litecoin and HBAR last week.
The ETFs' listing comes after firms have decided to take a non-traditional route in launching those products. Grayscale is taking the same path as it did for its SOL ETF last week in looking to launch the XRP ETF, according to a person familiar, which means the fund could also list without the SEC's greenlight. Bitwise did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Sometime in next two weeks, I expect launch of first spot xrp ETFs," NovaDius Wealth Management President Nate Geraci said Sunday in a post on X. "SEC had open litigation against Ripple for past five years, up until three months ago. IMO, launch of spot xrp ETFs represents final nail in coffin of previous anti-crypto regulators."
The U.S. is close to its longest government shutdown in history, leaving the SEC with a skeleton crew — operating under its shutdown plan, which significantly limits what staff can work on as many are furloughed. Ahead of the shutdown, the agency approved listing standards, which essentially meant dozens of crypto ETF applications could go live more quickly.
A week after the government shut down on Oct. 1, the SEC issued guidance, clarifying procedures for firms seeking to go public. In it, the SEC said that if firms want to go public, they can file an S-1 registration statement without what's called a delaying amendment. A delaying amendment means the ETF wouldn’t go into effect after 20 days, allowing the SEC time to work through comments.
The S-1 has to be final, and if changes are made, that restarts the clock for them to go into effect in 20 days. The ETF's asset also has to meet the listing standards. All of those aspects combined mean that firms can potentially launch their crypto ETFs without the SEC's sign-off.
