KEY POINTS
- Garlinghouse did recognize that the approval process for new crypto products will be a long journey
- JPMorgan analysts aren't optimistic about the market's initial reaction to spot ETH ETFs
- One expert previously predicted that the SEC will no longer approve new crypto ETFs
The recent approval of 19b-4 filings of exchanges that want to trade and sell Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has had many in the cryptocurrency community celebrating, including the CEO of payment protocol Ripple, who believes it won't be long before the market sees the ETFs of other popular digital assets.
"I think it's just a matter of time, and it's inevitable there's gonna be an XRP ETF, there's gonna be a Solana (SOL) ETF, there's gonna be a Cardano (ADA) ETF, and that's great," said Brad Garlinghouse at the Consensus 2024 conference by CoinDesk which ran from May 29-31 in Austin, TX.
XRP is the native crypto of the blockchain XRP Ledger, while Ripple is behind the XRP Ledger and holds the most number of XRP tokens.
Following the approval of ETH ETFs late last month, Garlinghouse said he recognizes there will be a strenuous regulatory approval process before XRP, SOL, and ADA ETFs are approved. On the other hand, he believes the challenges that the said cryptocurrencies face will just be "speed bumps."
His comments came as JPMorgan analysts predicted that the initial reaction of the crypto market to spot Ethereum ETFs will "likely" be negative and demand for the products "would be a fraction of that seen for spot Bitcoin."
They said one of the key disadvantages of spot ETH ETFs is the funds didn't have Bitcoin's "first mover advantage" that could have gotten more interest from digital assets investors.
JPMorgan's managing director and global market strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou also previously said that he believes the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was done approving crypto ETFs, given the fact that the regulatory agency has yet to clarify its view of Ether – whether the Ethereum blockchain's native token is a security or a commodity.
It is also worth noting that Ripple still has an ongoing legal scuffle with the SEC. The regulator submitted a final filing to reiterate that the payments titan should be punished with a large penalty to deter it from "future violations."
The regulatory authority filed a lawsuit against Ripple last year, accusing it of violating securities laws. Garlinghouse has said there was "no precedent" to the whopping amount in fines that the SEC sought in the case.
Meanwhile, the SEC has yet to make a decision on the approval of S-1 filings of spot Ether ETF issuers. An ETF expert expects the official launch of the funds to take place sometime early in July after the applicants make final "fine-tune" amendments to their filings.
