Trump Post Boosts XRP 6% While SEC Filing Language Fuels Commodity Speculation

Has the President of the United States become an XRP fan? Or, to stick more closely to crypto lingo, an XRP army reservist?

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Whatever the case, yesterday Donald Trump posted on his social media platform Truth an article titled “Donald Trump Effect Bumps Ripple Labs U.S. Deals, XRP Gains”.

XRP Price Moves Against Market Trend

That was enough to give the XRP price a boost and prompt a rally of over 6% since the post, reaching US$2.72 (AU$4.28) at the time of writing – pretty much against the broader market trend, which is sideways.

The rally could be due to Trump posting an article about himself boosting XRP – after all the post got thousands of likes and reposts – or it could be, at least partially, due to the exchange-traded fund (ETF) news and some commodity rumours.

After the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acknowledged filing for a Spot XRP ETF by Cboe/Bitwise, they now also did the same for a filing from Cboe BZX Exchange on behalf of Canary Capital as well as for a filing on Nasdaq for CoinShares. 

Just like in previous acknowledgements, the SEC now asks for public commentary within 21 days, after which a decision – after an initial 45-day window – could result in approval, dismissal or a closer investigation with an extension of up to 240 days. 

What’s even more interesting is the wording in the filings in light of the ongoing legal case between Ripple and the SEC.

Did The SEC Just Declare XRP a Commodity?

In the lawsuit, Ripple received clarity from a federal judge that XRP in itself is not a security, which the SEC said it doesn’t intend to challenge.

However, experts are still at odds with what this means for an ETF approval.

The recent filings by the agency rely heavily on wording that some say suggests they now consider XRP a commodity – though they stop short of explicitly calling it that.

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This has sparked some online discussions about what the SEC is actually saying.

FOX Business Journalist Eleanor Terrett gave a more nuanced analysis:

They have acknowledged that issuers are applying for a product that classifies XRP as a commodity asset within a securities wrapper.

Eleanor Terrett

In reality, the filing doesn’t mean that the SEC has declared XRP to be a commodity.

Using the “Commodity-Based Trust Shares” rule, as they did in most of these recent filings, does not mean they made a statement on whether XRP is or is not a security; it is simply how the Exchange and sponsor have chosen to structure and classify this product.

In the end, it may not matter all that much, because the judge has handed down a ruling, which is unlikely to be challenged, and many expect the case might be dropped altogether anyway.