- Ripple’s lawsuit with the SEC is officially over, sparking ETF speculation.
- BlackRock says it has no plans for an XRP or SOL ETF at this time.
- Analysts and industry voices remain skeptical that an XRP ETF is coming soon.
The long, messy Ripple lawsuit is finally over. On Thursday, lawyers for both Ripple and the SEC agreed to drop their appeals, closing the book on a battle that’s dragged on since 2020. Back then, the SEC accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through unregistered securities sales of XRP. Judge Analisa Torres later ruled that Ripple’s “programmatic” sales, which happened through blind bid processes, didn’t violate securities laws—but direct sales to institutional investors? Those, she said, did count as securities.
With the dust settling, some in the market started whispering about a potential “iShares XRP ETF” from BlackRock. Nate Geraci, president at NovaDius Wealth, even posted that it makes “zero” sense for the firm to ignore anything outside of Bitcoin and Ethereum. But when pressed, BlackRock poured cold water on the idea. “At this time, BlackRock does not have any plans to file an XRP or SOL ETF,” a spokesperson told The Block on Friday.
Why BlackRock Might Wait
Geraci suggested on his podcast that BlackRock could be taking a “let’s watch and see” approach—allowing rivals to launch first, then measuring demand before making a move. It wouldn’t be the first time the world’s largest asset manager played the long game. BlackRock already runs Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, and it’s not as if the SEC’s stance is completely hostile anymore. Under the Trump administration, the regulator has been warmer toward digital assets, reviewing proposals for funds tracking everything from Solana to Dogecoin.
Still, Bloomberg Intelligence’s James Seyffart doesn’t buy the idea that Ripple’s case was the only barrier. “They’ve had plenty of time to do it,” he said, adding that if BlackRock wanted to be in the first wave of XRP or SOL ETFs, they could have filed already. Bloomberg’s own analysts even put year-end odds for spot XRP, Dogecoin, and Cardano ETF approvals at 90%—yet no sign from BlackRock.
Skepticism From Industry Voices
Some think this is all just hopeful chatter. Alexander Blume of Two Prime Digital Assets points out that XRP’s market cap is less than half of Ethereum’s, which doesn’t exactly scream priority for big issuers. “I suspect they want to focus on promoting their BTC and ETH ETFs,” he said. Vivian Fang, a finance professor at Indiana University, went further, arguing that altcoins like Solana have a better shot at ETF filings before XRP does.
In other words, while the end of Ripple’s lawsuit removes a legal cloud, it doesn’t magically put an XRP ETF on the fast track—at least not for BlackRock. The demand might be there someday, but for now, it’s looking more like a waiting game than an imminent filing.
