SEC Acknowledges NYSE Arca Filing to Convert Bitwise Multi-Coin Fund Featuring XRP to an ETP

The U.S. SEC acknowledges the NYSE Arca 19b-4 filing to list and trade shares of the Bitwise 10 Crypto Fund, which contains multiple assets like XRP, as an ETP. 

In this latest XRP news update, The SEC issued the notice yesterday, acknowledging the NYSE Arca 19b-4 filing. According to the notice, the exchange submitted the filing under its proposed Rule 8.800-E.

Notably, the rationale behind the SEC’s notice is to solicit comments from the public regarding NYSE Arca’s request to list and trade shares of BITW as an ETP. 

Recall that NYSE Arca officially submitted the 19b-4 filing on November 14. At the time, Bitwise confirmed that the move aligned with efforts to convert BITW, labeled the largest index fund, to an ETP structure.

Interestingly, the SEC’s notice activates the countdown for potential approval, which could convert BITW from a publicly traded fund to an ETP.

BITW Details  

Launched in 2017, the Bitwise 10 Crypto Fund tracks the performance of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. The assets contained in the fund are weighted based on their market capitalization.

As of November 27, these assets and their weightings are Bitcoin (72.2%), Ethereum (16.6%), Solana (4.3%), XRP (3.2%), Cardano (1.4%), Avalanche (0.7%), Polkadot (0.4%), Chainlink (0.4%), Bitcoin Cash (0.4%), and Uniswap (0.4%). 

It is worth mentioning that Bitwise rebalances the index monthly to align with current market conditions. This process is usually conducted on the last business day of every month at 4:00 p.m. (ET). BITW currently trades at $60.80 per share, with an AUM of $1.427 billion. 

Growing Institutional Interest in XRP 

The development underscores growing institutional interest in crypto assets, especially XRP. Since October, several companies have sought the U.S. SEC’s blessing to launch investment products tied to XRP.

Last month, Bitwise filed with the SEC to launch an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States. Other companies, such as Canary Capital and 21Shares, followed suit, seeking to launch ETFs tied to the sixth-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap. 

On October 15, NYSE Arca applied to the SEC to list and trade Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC), featuring XRP and four other crypto assets, as an ETF.

Like the BITW filing, the SEC also issued a notice acknowledging the application to convert GDLC to an ETF. However, the commission has not acknowledged the other filings that are exclusively focused on XRP.