Spot XRP ETF ‘Matter Of Time’: Expert Expects BlackRock To Join The Race

Nate Geraci—President of The ETF Store, host of ETF Prime, and Co-Founder of The ETF Institute—renewed his confidence in a future spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States.

Geraci’s comments arrived via X, where he stated, “Ripple lawsuit coming to end… Seems obvious spot XRP ETF approval simply matter of time IMO. And yes, I expect BlackRock, Fidelity, etc to all be involved. XRP currently 3rd largest non-stablecoin crypto asset by market cap. Largest ETF issuers aren’t going to ignore this.”

Geraci, who had already forecast a spot ETF filing by BlackRock in mid-March, reiterated that it is increasingly plausible that major asset managers will seek to tap into top altcoins beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. On March 14, he wrote: “I’m ready to log formal prediction… BlackRock will file for both solana & xrp ETFs. Solana could be any day. Think XRP once SEC lawsuit concluded.”

The expert emphasized that BlackRock is currently the leader (followed by Fidelity) by assets under management for both spot Bitcoin and spot Ethereum ETF. “I simply don’t see them allowing competitors to come in & launch ETFs on 2 of the top 5 non-stablecoin crypto assets w/out any sort of fight. I also believe BlackRock will file for crypto index ETFs btw,” Geraci stated.

Notably, yesterday’s filing by Fidelity for a spot Solana ETF filing appears to reinforce the notion that leading fund issuers are stepping into the altcoin ETF domain.

XRP Lawsuit End Opens The Door

Geraci’s renewed optimism comes on the heels of yesterday’s announcement from Ripple Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Stuart Alderoty, who provided what he characterized as his “last update on SEC v Ripple ever.” Last week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreed to drop its appeal against Ripple.

“Ripple has now agreed to drop its cross-appeal. The SEC will keep $50M of the $125M fine (already in an interest-bearing escrow in cash), with the balance returned to Ripple. The agency will also ask the Court to lift the standard injunction that was imposed earlier at the SEC’s request. All subject to Commission vote, drafting of final documents and usual court processes,” Alderoty revealed.

Nonetheless, pro-XRP attorney Fred Rispoli has clarified via X that the case is not entirely concluded until the SEC’s formal vote and subsequent filings have been processed. Based on standard timelines, Rispoli suggests it could take up to 30 days for the Commission to vote and another 30 days for Judge Torres to sign off on lifting the injunction.

In the best-case scenario, observers could see a fully resolved matter within roughly 60 days. The formal conclusion of the SEC lawsuit against Ripple would ostensibly remove a central barrier to major institutional products tied to XRP, thereby making Geraci’s spot XRP ETF prediction more plausible.

At press time, XRP traded at $2.4495.