Key Highlights:
- Rex-Osprey XRP ETF (XRPP) generated a trading volume of 24 million dollars in the first 90 minutes.
- The initial performance was 5x that of the XRP futures ETFs on their first day.
- The adoption of the generic listing standards by the SEC opened the door to several new spot crypto ETFs, XRP being one of them.
It was a historical event in the U.S. market when the REX-Osprey XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) was launched on September 18. The XRP ETF made a phenomenal first impression in terms of its first-day performance. The product recorded sales of $24 million in less than one and a half hours of opening trades, indicating that investors were keen on owning crypto-linked securities. It subsequently gained 31 million in trading volume.
XRP ETF Shines on Day 1
Senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, Eric Balchunas, expressed his surprise on X. He wrote, “SEMI-SHOCK: Rex XRP ETF $XRPP is already at $24m in volume. That is way more than I would have thought. For context it’s 5x more than any of the XRP futures ETFs did on Day One and it’s only been 90min.”
SEMI-SHOCK: Rex XRP ETF $XRPP is already at $24m in volume. That is way more than I would have thought. For context it’s 5x more than any of the XRP futures ETFs did on Day One and it’s only been 90min. pic.twitter.com/DKIDD6noZF
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) September 18, 2025
The fund, which was initiated under ticker XRPP, was one of the early U.S. spot crypto ETFs other than Bitcoin and Ethereum to be publicly listed. The success of the same was closely monitored by traders and analysts, who had estimated a low-profile reception, given the cautious history of regulatory approvals.
SEC Unlocks New Pathways
A major change in regulation preceded this launch. On Wednesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) passed a set of generic listing principles through which exchanges, including Nasdaq, NYSE, and Cboe Global Markets, can now accept spot cryptocurrency ETFs without the time-consuming case-by-case analysis that slowed approval in the past.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins termed the move as a way of encouraging innovation and lessening restrictions to digital asset items. Under the Trump administration, the reforms cut the approval process that used to take up to 240 days down to 75 days.
The leaders of the industry established the development as a breakthrough. According to Teddy Fusaro, the president of Bitwise Asset Management, “This is a watershed moment in America’s regulatory approach to digital assets, overturning more than a decade of precedent since the first Bitcoin ETF filing in 2013.”
Investor Interest Bucks Trends
Although the role of XRP in the crypto community is disputable, the popularity of its ETF was even greater than expected. The inflows had been predicted to be small by analysts, especially since XRP futures ETFs were historically not able to attract so much trading.
Nonetheless, the launch of XRPP was a new standard, surpassing not only XRP-linked futures but also several traditional asset ETFs during the first trading. Also, CME Group is planning to launch XRP and Solana options trading, which could further boost adoption of these altcoins via new investment modes.
Alongside the XRP ETF, REX Shares and Osprey Funds also launched Dogecoin ETF (NYSE:DOJE). Balchunas, who previously was not very optimistic about crypto ETFs beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, acknowledged that the Dogecoin ETF’s figures were higher than he expected. “My over/under was destroyed,” he said when the figures passed his estimate in less than two hours.
Implications on Crypto ETFs
The wave of approvals, of which XRPP was a part, included a larger wave of approvals. The recent decision of the SEC leaves asset managers with better avenues to introduce ETFs that would track cryptocurrencies like Solana, Dogecoin, etc. A few of these products have already been filed and may be introduced into the market within a few months.
Earlier this week, Steve McClurg, CEO of Canary Capital, stated that, as much as the regulatory greenlight was essential, companies had to put in place “marketing plans, legal filings, [and] work with service providers” before the subsequent round of products could be launched.
Legal analysts pointed out that the simplest path for future ETFs would be to follow the assets with already existing contracts governed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Attorney Steve Feinour of Stradley Ronon said that provision might expedite the approvals of tokens in an existing derivatives market.
In the case of XRP, though, the first impression was the sheer power of the initial launch of its ETF, which few people in the market had predicted.
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