ETC Group has added to its suite of institutional-grade digital asset investment solutions with a new ETP providing directly backed exposure to XRP, the native token underpinning the Ripple network.
The XRPetc – ETC Group physical XRP ETP has been listed on Deutsche Börse Xetra in euros (GXRP GY) and US dollars (GXRQ GY).
Similar to ETC Group’s existing digital asset ETPs, the new listing has come to market in partnership with London-based white-label ETF platform HANetf which is overseeing marketing and distribution responsibilities.
Ripple is a real-time global settlement, remittance, and FX network that is similar to the SWIFT system used by banks and financial middlemen.
Rather than use blockchain mining, Ripple utilizes a consensus mechanism through a group of servers to confirm its transactions, a process that is quick, cheap, and energy-efficient.
With a current total market capitalization of $34.8 billion, XRP is ranked as the sixth-largest cryptocurrency globally.
Bradley Duke, Founder and co-CEO at ETC Group, said: “Ripple is rapidly becoming a leader in global payment systems with hundreds of financial institutions choosing Ripple to provide a better international payments experience for their customers in real-time.”
Despite XRP’s popularity, Ripple has been mired in controversy since December 2020 when the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it would be suing XRP’s developer, Ripple Labs, over unlawfully selling the token to retail investors. The SEC alleges that XRP is actually a security and, as such, its unregistered issuance broke federal securities laws.
Volatility in XRP has since surged with the token’s price being heavily influenced by developments in the ongoing trial.
The ETP is designed to offer institutional investors easy access to XRP through a liquid, regulated vehicle without the technical challenges of setting up private keys or crypto wallets.
It uses full direct, so-called ‘physical’ replication with each ETP share being 100% collateralized by a corresponding investment in XRP which is stored using an institutional-grade custody solution provided by BitGo Trust.
The ETP comes with an expense ratio of 1.95%.
ETC Group now offers ten directly backed crypto ETPs with the other products in the firm’s suite providing exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, Polkadot, Litecoin, Avalanche, Cosmos, and Polygon.
Duke added: “By launching this latest ETC to our expanding portfolio of high-quality, physically backed digital assets, we’re continuing to grow our offering to investors, providing access to an increasingly wide range of digital currencies and assets – especially those amassing large market caps. The market-leading success of our products has been driven by our partnerships with world-class liquidity providers to deliver high liquidity and tight trading spreads.”