Grayscale Investments, a major cryptocurrency investment firm, is debuting a new crypto trust linked to the XRP (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/xrp-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">XRP</a>) cryptocurrency.
Grayscale officially&nbsp;<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/09/12/2945244/0/en/Grayscale-Investments-Launches-Grayscale-XRP-Trust.html" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">announced on Sept. 12</a> the creation and public launch of Grayscale XRP Trust, which enables investors to gain exposure to XRP.
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 <img alt="Grayscale to launch US XRP trust, paving way for potential ETF" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-09/0191e682-3e32-7e43-8c39-f3d9f0e40f0c">
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 Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/Grayscale/status/1834216119869341902" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Grayscale</a>
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The firm noted that Grayscale XRP Trust is immediately open for daily subscription by eligible individual and institutional accredited investors. It functions like Grayscale’s other single-asset investment trusts and is solely invested in the token underpinning the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
<h3 id="how-a-crypto-trust-is-different-from-a-crypto-etf">How a crypto trust is different from a crypto ETF</h3>
According to a report by Fox Business, the launch of Grayscale XRP Trust could potentially pave the way for an XRP exchange-traded fund, which is a different product.
“An ETF must be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission since it is marketed directly to retail investors, while a trust’s structure and sales pitch to so-called accredited investors gets a lighter regulatory touch,” Fox Business’ Eleanor Terrett <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/grayscale-launch-first-us-xrp-trust-paving-way-potential-etf" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">reported</a>.
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 <img alt="Grayscale to launch US XRP trust, paving way for potential ETF" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-09/0191e683-1187-7c22-891d-8db0de469ce8">
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 Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.grayscale.com/crypto-products/grayscale-xrp-trust" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://www.grayscale.com/crypto-products/grayscale-xrp-trust">Grayscale</a>
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The report also mentioned that Grayscale has published an intended four-phase product life cycle for the XRP trust, which potentially implies the possibility of an XRP ETF in the future.
“Each Product is intended to follow a four-stage life cycle — with the ultimate goal of uplisting the product to an ETF,” Grayscale <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.grayscale.com/faqs" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://www.grayscale.com/faqs">said</a> on a dedicated FAQ page. “As a product progresses through this intended lifecycle, there is a correlated increase in investor access and transparency,” the firm noted.
<h3 id="xrp-has-an-important-real-world-use-case-says-grayscale">XRP has an “important real-world use case,” says Grayscale</h3>
In the announcement, Grayscale’s head of product and research, Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, pointed out that the Grayscale XRP Trust gives investors exposure to a protocol “with an important real-world use case.” He added:
<blockquote>
 “By facilitating cross-border payments that take just seconds to complete, XRP has the potential to transform the legacy financial infrastructure.”
</blockquote>
The <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ripple-xrp-ledger-smart-contracts-evm-sidechain" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">XRP Ledger</a> is a decentralized, public blockchain led by a global community of businesses and developers. The XRPL is designed to provide a number of use cases, such as cross-border payment solutions, tokenization and decentralized finance.
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-etf-security-fbi-north-korea-hackers" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-etf-security-fbi-north-korea-hackers">Bitcoin ETF security concerns mount after FBI warns of North Korean hackers</a>
Grayscale Investments is one of the world’s biggest Bitcoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">BTC</a>) investment firms, holding 222,300 BTC ($12.8 billion) in its spot BTC ETF, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC).
Since <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-spot-etf-volumes-break-records-blackrock-fidelity-grayscale" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">debuting GBTC in January</a> with the other 10 issuers, Grayscale has emerged as one of the biggest sellers of Bitcoin. It has consistently offloaded billions in BTC from the ETF.
After <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/grayscale-confirms-ethereum-etfs-begun-trading-nyse" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">launching two spot Ether ETFs</a> in July, Grayscale has also posted <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-etfs-major-movements-ethe-outflow-august-2024" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">multi-billion outflows</a> from the new products.
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/simple-change-save-ethereum-roadmap-to-hell/" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/simple-change-save-ethereum-roadmap-to-hell/">Proposed change could save Ethereum from L2 ‘roadmap to hell</a>

Grayscale to launch US XRP trust, paving way for potential ETF

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