Momentum around a potential XRP exchange-traded fund has strengthened after two asset managers, Bitwise Investment Advisers LLC and Canary Capital Group LLC, submitted amended registration documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The updated filings, both made in late October, have added fresh detail to how the proposed products would operate and have intensified speculation that XRP could become one of the next major digital assets to gain a U.S.-listed ETF structure.
The renewed attention comes at a time when regulated crypto investment vehicles remain a central theme for both institutional and retail investors. With bitcoin and ether already firmly established in the ETF conversation, and with broader enthusiasm for digital-asset funds revived by recent launches in other categories, XRP is increasingly being discussed as a serious candidate for the next wave of exchange-traded crypto products.
Bitwise details structure, custody, and fees
Bitwise filed Amendment No. 4 to its Form S-1 on Oct. 31 for the proposed Bitwise XRP ETF. According to the filing, the trust is seeking to list on NYSE Arca under the ticker “XRP”. The proposed fund would hold XRP directly rather than using derivatives or synthetic exposure, making it a spot-based product designed to track the underlying asset as closely as possible.
The filing states that the trust would follow the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate–New York Variant, a benchmark administered by CF Benchmarks Ltd. In terms of operational setup, Coinbase Custody Trust Company would serve as custodian, while Bank of New York Mellon would act as administrator and transfer agent.
Bitwise’s amendment also offered more insight into the economics of the product. It disclosed $2.5 million in seed capital from affiliate Bitwise Investment Manager LLC and listed a 0.34% unitary management fee. That fee would be waived on the first $500 million in assets during the fund’s first month of trading, a structure that could help attract early flows if the ETF is approved and launched.
The proposed fund is organized as a Delaware statutory trust. Importantly, the filing specifies that it would not engage in lending, staking, or yield-generating activities. That restriction aligns the product with a straightforward passive-exposure model, giving investors access to XRP’s spot price movements without introducing additional strategy risk or complexity.
Canary pursues a parallel route on Nasdaq
Canary Capital has taken a similar but distinct approach. On Oct. 24, the firm filed pre-effective Amendment No. 3 to its Form S-1 for the proposed Canary XRP ETF. That product aims to list on Nasdaq under the ticker “XRPC”.
Like the Bitwise proposal, Canary’s fund would hold XRP directly. However, its valuation framework differs. The filing says the trust would calculate value using the Coindesk XRP CCIXber 60m New York Rate. The custody arrangement also differs from Bitwise’s. Gemini Trust Company and Bitgo Trust Company would safeguard the XRP held by the trust, while U.S. Bancorp Fund Services would act as administrator and transfer agent.
These distinctions matter because they show how issuers are competing not only for regulatory clearance but also for positioning. Listing venue, ticker identity, pricing benchmark, and custody framework all shape how a fund may be perceived by investors and intermediaries once it reaches the market. Even when two products target the same asset, structural details can become a differentiating factor in adoption.
Why the amended filings matter
Amended S-1 filings are often viewed by market participants as a sign of continued engagement with the SEC review process. While an amendment does not guarantee approval, it can indicate that issuers are refining disclosures, clarifying operations, and addressing regulatory expectations. In the case of XRP, the fact that two separate firms have advanced updated filings has reinforced the perception that the asset is moving closer to a regulated ETF debut.
The filings also arrive amid a broader expansion of investor interest in digital-asset investment products. According to the source material, they were submitted shortly after the successful debut of Bitwise’s Solana ETF (BSOL), an event that helped revive market enthusiasm for crypto funds. In that context, XRP is increasingly being framed as a logical next candidate for institutional packaging, particularly because it is already one of the most recognized crypto assets by market capitalization and use case.
XRP’s institutional case
Supporters of an XRP ETF frequently point to the asset’s established role in global payments and its reputation for low-cost transactions. Those characteristics have long been central to the XRP investment narrative, and they are now being repurposed as part of the case for broader regulated access. For institutional investors, an ETF format could reduce friction by offering exposure through familiar brokerage and fund platforms rather than requiring direct interaction with crypto-native infrastructure.
If approved, an XRP ETF would also represent another step in the normalization of digital assets within traditional financial markets. It would place XRP alongside a growing list of crypto assets seeking or achieving wrapper-based access for conventional investors. That said, the current development should be understood as a filing-stage advance rather than a completed launch.
What investors should watch next
At this stage, the most concrete takeaway is that both Bitwise and Canary have updated their registration materials and provided more complete information about custody, benchmarks, administrative roles, and, in Bitwise’s case, fees and seed funding. Those disclosures help the market evaluate how each proposed ETF would function if approved.
What remains unresolved is timing. The SEC has not yet granted final approval based on the information provided here, and there is no confirmed launch date in the source material. As a result, investor optimism is being driven by progress in the process rather than by a formal authorization.
Still, the direction of travel is clear: XRP has moved deeper into the ETF conversation, and the latest amendments have made that momentum more visible. Whether it ultimately becomes the next crypto ETF to launch in the United States will depend on the next phase of regulatory review, but for now, the race has clearly intensified.