Bitwise Makes XRP ETF Plans Official With SEC Filing

Bitwise took a big step toward launching an exchange-traded fund tied to XRP (XRP), the Ripple-associated token that’s among the biggest cryptocurrencies in the world.

On Wednesday, the asset manager submitted an S-1 form to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a requirement for companies seeking to issue a new security and be listed on a public stock exchange.

“Today we filed an S-1 for a Bitwise XRP ETP!” Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley wrote in a post on X. “For more than a decade, XRP has been an enduring crypto asset that many investors want exposure to.”

The move comes a day after Bitwise registered a trust entity titled “XRP ETF” with the state of Delaware; many companies list their legal entities in that state, and crypto ETF issuers have more than once tipped off their plans through Delaware filings.

XRP is the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization at $33 billion, according to CoinDesk data. Its bigger rivals, bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum’s ether (ETH), have since earlier this year both been available to investors as an ETF, a wildly popular type of product in traditional finance.

While the submission of an S-1 filing is the first step in introducing a fund, the document is basically meaningless if it isn’t followed by another filing, called the 19b-4, which is required to signal a requisite rule change at the stock exchange seeking to list the investment

Unlike the 19b-4, which ties the SEC’s decision to approve or deny the filing to a strict timeline, the regulator has no such obligation to respond to the S-1, meaning that it could take years for Bitwise to receive approval.

VanEck, for example, filed an S-1 to launch an ether ETF in 2021, but the fund didn’t hit the market until July 2024, over three years later.

Bitwise’s effort to create a fund tracking XRP, however, is “highly noteworthy,” said one industry expert, Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store, in response to Tuesday’s filing.

“Bitwise is a highly credible crypto-native fund firm that doesn’t just throw stuff at the wall,” he added.