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Ripple Labs and the US SEC have finally closed the book on their high-profile lawsuit after almost five years of legal back-and-forth. According to a joint filing with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, both sides agreed to drop their appeals, making Judge Analisa Torres’s 2023 ruling final.
The resolution has already been factored into XRP’s price surge above $3 again. It has also led to an interesting speculation from market expert Nate Geraci, who suggested that BlackRock may now look to file for an iShares XRP ETF.
The end of the case immediately prompted discussion about whether BlackRock, Wall Street’s biggest asset manager, will launch a Spot XRP ETF. Geraci, president of The ETF Store, shared on X that he believes BlackRock may have been waiting for this moment before filing for an iShares XRP ETF.
“Makes zero sense for them to ignore crypto assets beyond btc & eth,” he wrote. According to him, limiting exposure to just Bitcoin and Ethereum would be like saying they’re the only assets that will ever matter. That stance is very questionable given the altcoin’s price performance since last year.
Given BlackRock’s success with its Spot Bitcoin and Spot Ethereum ETFs, the XRP ETF is the logical next step, as the third-largest cryptocurrency. If BlackRock were to launch an XRP ETF, it could be a game-changer for the token’s price performance.
At the time of writing, BlackRock holds the largest share of assets in both Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in the US. The firm’s Spot Bitcoin ETF, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), has dominated inflows since launch and is currently holding $86.53 billion in net assets. Furthermore, its iShares Ethereum Trust has quickly become the leader among Ethereum ETFs with $12.35 billion in net assets.
Polymarket now puts the odds of an XRP ETF approval at 76%, although it reached as high as 88.7% on August 8. However, Bloomberg’s ETF analyst Eric Balchunas is leaning on the cautious side. In response to Nate Geraci’s post, Balchunas disagreed and noted that the firm is likely satisfied with its existing crypto offerings. He doesn’t expect one to be filed this year, but the longer-term outlook is harder to call.
It appears BlackRock is in no rush to expand its ETF lineup for now. A BlackRock spokesperson told The Block on Friday that the company currently has no plans for a spot XRP ETF, or one for Solana. However, that doesn’t mean the door is closed forever.
XRP’s price jumped more than 11% on the news of the settlement. Its price went from $3.04 and jumped to $3.36 in just a few hours after news of the settlement broke out. At the time of writing, the altcoin is trading at $3.32.
