XRP Climbs 12% on Regulatory Developments, Creeping Interest from ETFs

US banking licence

Ripple, as a cross-border payments processor, positions itself as an updated version to the SWIFT system and is already being used by large banks and financial institutions, such as Santander and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). The platform’s technology stands out from SWIFT with its rapid payment confirmation, low transaction fees, energy-efficiency compared with Proof of Work (POW) blockchains like Bitcoin, and scalability. 

Last week, Ripple applied for a US banking licence, following similar moves from stablecoin issuer Circle and custodian BitGo. This licence would allow these companies to hold and move money directly, without relying on third-party banks, giving them more power and credibility in the US financial system. 

Ripple CEO’s testimony

Investors cheering the licensing action were also won over this week by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s testimony at a US Senate committee hearing. Senators quizzed Garlinghouse on plans to introduce market structure legislation aimed at providing regulatory clarity over which tokens constitute securities or commodities.  

Garlinghouse pushed a straightforward message: the US’s leading position in crypto relies on smart, clear regulation. He used Ripple’s victory following a four-year battle with the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) – a US federal judge ruled in mid-2023 that XRP is not a security – as proof that obtaining regulatory clarity is in fact possible. 

Garlinghouse laid out three legislative priorities:

• clear jurisdictive boundaries between regulators;
• pathways for crypto firms to scale in the US without sacrificing investor or consumer protections; and
• a framework to ensure US leadership in digital assets and blockchain technology.

XRP ETFs

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) – President Trump’s media and technology company, best known for developing social media platform Truth Social – also seems to have had a role to play in buoying the price of XRP.

TMTG announced on 8 July it had filed paperwork with the SEC for approval to launch its “Truth Social Crypto Blue Chip ETF” “later this year”. The proposed crypto ETF would be composed of 70% Bitcoin (BTC), 15% Ether (ETH), 8% Solana (SOL), 5% Cronos (CRO), and 2% XRP. 

While XRP would hold the smallest share of the ETF’s portfolio among the four other coins, this was a significant step for the cryptocurrency, especially considering that the SEC still hasn’t approved any spot XRP ETFs – an ongoing frustration for investors waiting for opportunities for unleveraged exposure to spot XRP in the US.

What’s next for XRP

On 10 July, the SEC will hold a closed meeting in which it will address its longstanding legal dispute with Ripple. When a federal judge ruled in 2023 that XRP did not constitute a security, some institutional sales of XRP by Ripple were, however, found to violate securities law. Both the SEC and Ripple appealed this decision, and now this meeting draws attention to investors as any settlement or regulatory shift could pave the way for the rise of XRP as a legitimate, widely accessible digital asset – potentially clearing the path for US-listed spot XRP ETFs and opening the door for broader institutional adoption.

14 July will also mark an important day for XRP, as the US Federal Reserve prepares to switch to a new standard message format – ISO 20022 – to modernize financial communications by establishing a single, unified standard for global payment systems. This conversion should benefit XRP as well as crypto peers that are also built to work with the new standard, such as XLM, XDC, ALGO, QNT, and HBAR.

This week could finally bring real clarity to where XRP stands in the global financial system. Fans of XRP will now have to patiently observe whether regulators will deliver on their promises and for the list of XRP spot ETFs “under review” to finally get unleashed to a sea of hungry American investors.