NEW YORK — Luke Hoersten, founder and CEO of derivatives exchange Bitnomial, says the XRP Ledger could provide a structural advantage in the growing crypto ETF market by supporting both value transfers and real-world payments from a single platform.
“What I think is unique about XRP and RLUSD is that we have a single ledger that drives two strategies: one is storing and transferring wealth in XRP, and the other is payments in RLUSD,” Holsten said at Ripple's Swell conference in New York on Tuesday. “For me, having both on a single ledger with a single strategy is what makes this ecosystem unique.”
The comments were made during a panel discussion with Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley, Canary Capital CEO Steven McClurg, and Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. The group discussed what a spot XRP ETF would look like and why they think it has the potential to surpass past crypto ETF launches.
McClurg explained how new SEC rules, combined with existing futures trading, allow ETF issuers to file so-called “no-delay amendments” for assets such as XRP.
“For example, we filed for Litecoin and HBAR a few weeks ago and both went live last week,” McClurg said. “And we basically applied for the XRP ETF 20 days before Nov. 13 with no delay amendments.”
This means the spot XRP ETF could be launched as early as next week.
Bitwise, which recently launched the Solana Staking ETF, is also joining the fray. That fund, BSOL, brought in $500 million in its first week, making it one of the strongest performers among ETFs in 2024. Horsley said he believes XRP could be next.
“We think XRP is one of the highest-conviction assets among investors, which we know from our client base, so we think it's going to do great. We're going to take it to market for all types of investors and do our best to make sure they get a return,” he said.
Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, echoed that view. He likened the race to launch ETFs to a “cannonball run” and said that XRP has already proven its popularity with past crypto fund launches.
“I wouldn't be surprised if XRP becomes the next cycle's breakout ETF,” Balciunas said.
Still, the committee cautioned that ETFs alone do not guarantee higher prices. However, as new tools such as spot trading, physically settled futures trading, and tighter spreads emerge, XRP could be well positioned to benefit from the broader transition of cryptocurrencies to regulated finance.
