Ripple Has a Plan: Will April Bring the Long-Awaited XRP ETF?

• An XRP ETF application will likely come in April, with a possible launch before the year closes.
• Crypto influencer Ben Armstrong said Blackrock will spearhead the ETF launch.
• Grayscale’s re-inclusion of the XRP in its Fund stoked the ETF speculations.

The sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, XRP, may likely see the launch of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) this year and an application as early as the next few months. 

In a development that will undoubtedly excite XRP community members, crypto influencer Ben Armstrong hinted in a video about the upcoming XRP ETF. Armstrong, acting on insider information, said an application for the said ETF may come in April, the same time as the SEC v Ripple lawsuit is scheduled to close. 

With the spike in attention around spot Bitcoin ETFs, XRP Army have argued that XRP deserves to get a similar ETF. Importantly, they emphasized that XRP is the only altcoin with legal clarity following a court’s ruling last year that declared the digital asset a non-security. 

While reiterating prevailing sentiments in the XRP community, Armstrong noted that the legal clarity XRP has makes an ETF launch more probable. Blackrock, the largest asset manager in the world and one of those in the lead for a Bitcoin ETF, will spearhead the launch of the XRP ETF, Armstrong said. 

Recently, speculations of an XRP ETF have grown in the crypto community. This rise in anticipation came after Grayscale readded the digital asset to its Digital Large Cap Fund after a two-year hiatus. 

The readdition comes as the asset manager retraced a 2020 decision to remove XRP from its Fund following the SEC lawsuit against Ripple. Since the announcement , speculations about whether the asset manager will move for XRP ETF have risen. However, whether or not that will happen remains to be seen. 

Meanwhile, despite a resurgence in cryptocurrency prices, XRP continues to stagnate. The digital asset has struggled to replicate the sporadic rise holders expected following Judge Analisa Torres’s ruling.

According to CoinMarketCap data, XRP is currently trading at $0.5693 after a 1.26% rise in the past 24 hours. However, on the weekly chart, the token is down 8.59% and down a steeper 12% in the past 30 days.