Canary Capital Group launched the first spot XRP exchange traded fund in the United States Thursday, providing investors with direct exposure to the digital asset designed for cross-border payments and settlements.
The Canary XRP ETF (XRPC) began trading on Nasdaq and charges an annual fee of 0.50%, according to the prospectus. The fund holds actual XRP tokens in custody with Gemini Trust Company and BitGo Trust Company, rather than using derivatives or futures contracts.
The launch became possible after a series of regulatory developments over the past year, according to Steven McClurg, founder and CEO of Canary Capital. A judge ruled in 2023 that XRP itself was not a security when sold on public exchanges, and the lawsuit between Ripple Labs and the SEC was settled in August, McClurg said in an interview. The SEC also approved generic listing standards that created a framework for cryptocurrency ETFs to list on exchanges.
“XRP is one of the most established and widely used digital assets in the world,” McClurg said in a press release announcing the fund. “Accessibility to XRP through an ETF will enable the next wave of adoption and growth in a critical blockchain system.”
XRP differs from bitcoin and ethereum in its primary function, McClurg explained. Bitcoin serves as digital money and a store of value, while ethereum powers decentralized applications. XRP was designed primarily for moving money quickly across borders through the XRP Ledger payment network.
The XRP Ledger can process transactions in three to five seconds with minimal fees, making it faster than traditional banking systems for cross-border payments, according to the prospectus. The network handles up to 1,500 transactions per second using a consensus-based validation system rather than energy-intensive mining.
XRP ETF Attracts Institutional Interest
Canary Capital expects the XRP ETF to draw roughly equal interest from institutional and retail investors, McClurg said. The firm’s previously launched Canary Hedera ETF (HBR) attracted about $60 million in institutional assets out of $70 million total in its first three days, demonstrating strong institutional appetite for utility-focused digital assets.
XRP ranks as the fourth-largest digital asset by market capitalization at $148.6 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. The 24-hour trading volume reached $6.2 billion Thursday morning.
The fund is Canary Capital’s third crypto ETF launch, and the firm has plans to bring four products to market by the end of November, according to McClurg.
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