The Ripple-linked altcoin XRP could be getting an exchange-traded fund “sooner than later.”

That’s according to Nate Geraci, the president of the ETF Store and co-founder of the ETF Institute.

Geraci said that the existence of a two-times leveraged XRP ETF augurs good news for the chances of the US Securities and Exchange Commission approving a spot ETF.

“I simply don’t see this SEC not approving spot XRP ETF,” he said.

The agency under former Chair Gary Gensler was devoted to bringing crypto under its purview by firing off a barrage of enforcement actions against industry players. Gensler stepped down on the day of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Newly appointed SEC Chair Paul Atkins is seen as being more aligned with Trump’s pro-industry views and has been a crypto champion for years. The agency has spent the last few months halting or dropping cases against crypto companies, including Ripple.

Ripple’s founders developed XRP, and the company still helps to maintain the blockchain. It uses it to facilitate cross-border payments.

XRP ETF

Several firms have leapt upon Trump’s pro-crypto stance and applied to create an XRP ETF. The prospective issuers include Bitwise, Grayscale, Canary Capital, and WisdomTree. Geraci has previously said he thinks BlackRock and Fidelity will join them.

In a marked shift from the Gensler years, the SEC hasn’t just thrown out the applications. Instead, it has acknowledged them, which analysts say sends a strong signal that things are changing at the regulator.

The SEC has until mid-October to make a final decision on the applications.

A spot ETF is a fund that holds the actual underlying asset — such as a cryptocurrency — rather than derivatives or futures contracts. It allows investors to gain exposure to the real-time market price of the cryptocurrency without having to buy or store it directly.

If approved, XRP will join the $104 billion crypto ETF market and become the third cryptocurrency to get its own spot fund, after Bitcoin and Ethereum.

JPMorgan estimates that XRP ETFs could draw in an estimated $8 billion over their first year.

Good odds

Another key indicator that things may be changing came last week when Vermont-based investment firm Teucrium launched a leveraged XRP ETF. It has the ticker XXRP and offers double daily returns on the cryptocurrency.

The launch of the leveraged XRP ETF, the cryptocurrency’s growing market share, and growing US trading volumes all hint at improving chances for the altcoin to be the next token to get a spot ETF, Kaiko wrote this week.

Bettors on crypto-betting site Polymarket put the chances on an XRP ETF being approved this year at 77%.

Apart from XRP, the cryptocurrencies considered most likely to get approved for an ETF by the SEC are Solana, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Polkadot.

Andrew Flanagan is a markets correspondent for DL News. Have a tip? Reach out to aflanagan@dlnews.com.