Switzerland-based 21Shares AG, considered one of the pioneers when it comes to the issuance of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs), has announced the launch of an $XRP ETP in Swiss francs (CHF) on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
The SIX Swiss Exchange is based in Zurich and is Switzerland’s main stock exchange. It trades other securities such as Swiss government bonds and derivatives such as stock options. The exchange is owned by the SIX Group, an “unlisted public limited company itself controlled by 122 banks or financial institutions.”
21Shares’ physically-backed XRP ETP, the 21Shares Ripple XRP ETP, is touted as the “world’s first Ripple ETP” and trades under the ticker AXRP. It aims to track the investment results of XRP minus fees, with each share of the ETP having 30.11650072 XRP in it.
The product has a 2.5% management fee and is already listed on a number of other exchanges, including the Boerse Stuttgart and Euronext Amsterdam, and Euronext Paris. According to CryptoCompare’s February 2022 Asset Report, it held 76.7 million XRP in it, having assets under management close to $55 million.
It is notably not the only ETP tracking the value of XRP. Last year, CoinShares launched its CoinShars Physical XRP (XRPL) product, which is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange with a total expense ratio of 1.5%. The product aims to replicate the performance of the cryptoasset, with each unit being backed by 40 tokens at launch.
21Shares’ expansion of AXRP came as it launched seven new products on the exchange, including the “world’s first physically-backed” ETPs for Cardano ($ADA), Solana ($SOL), and Polkadot ($DOT). The firm notes that the ETPs differ from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are these are “debt securities issued by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) instead.“
The product’s expansion also comes after reports suggested the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) Commissioner Hester Pierce believes that the regulator will not get the outcome it’s looking for in its lawsuit against Ripple over the XRP token.
The SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple and two of its executives alleges they “raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.” It negatively impacted the price of XRP, as after the lawsuit was announced most cryptocurrency exchanges started delisting the token to avoid any repercussions, affecting its liquidity.
Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, citing an anonymous source close to the SEC, has said Peirce expressed privately she believes the SEC won’t get a favorable outcome from the lawsuit.
Ripple’s lawyers, according to legal expert Jeremy Hogan, expect the lawsuit to be over sometime between August 26 and November 18 of this year.
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