SEC Delays April 30 Launch of ProShares XRP Futures ETFs

ProShares’ XRP futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will not begin trading on April 30, according to an April 28 statement by Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart. While the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the ETFs, Seyffart clarified that the products do not have a confirmed launch date yet, but are expected to begin trading in the short to medium term.

The ProShares XRP futures ETFs serve institutional investors seeking a regulated way to speculate on XRP’s price volatility. Futures-based ETFs offer an alternative investment vehicle that eliminates the need for direct custody of digital assets, addressing the regulatory, security, and operational concerns often associated with holding digital assets directly.

ProShares secured SEC approval to launch three XRP futures-based ETFs: the Ultra XRP ETF offering 2x leverage, the Short XRP ETF offering -1x inverse exposure, and the Ultra Short XRP ETF offering -2x inverse exposure.  According to SEC filings, the regulator finalized the approval earlier this year, during a period of increased momentum in crypto-related financial products.

These ProShares ETFs will become the second, third, and fourth XRP-related ETFs approved in the US. The first XRP futures ETF, managed by Teucrium, began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on April 8 and reported positive initial trading volumes. ProShares also has a pending application for a spot XRP ETF with the SEC, along with seven other similar applications. Most of the filings have a second deadline set for late May, as their first deadline in April passed without a decision from the SEC. 

Additionally, some filings have a final deadline of mid-October, like the conversion requirement by Grayscale and the 21shares proposal. A January prediction by JPMorgan estimates that XRP exchange-traded products (ETPs) can reach between $4 billion and $8 billion in net inflows, based on the track record of ETFs exposed to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).