The crypto community is bracing for the launch of the first spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) after Nasdaq certified the listing of Canary Capital’s XRP ETF.
The Nasdaq Stock Market exchange on Wednesday officially notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it has received the Form 8‑A filing for the Canary XRP ETF (XRPC).
“The official listing notice for XRPC has arrived from Nasdaq,” Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on X, adding: “Looks like tomorrow is on for the launch.”
While ETF watchers expect Canary’s spot XRP (XRP) ETF to debut trading on Thursday, the SEC has yet to issue its final approval for trading to commence, leaving the debut uncertain heading into the market open.
The sixth single crypto asset ETF
Nate Geraci, president of NovaDius Wealth Management, took to X on Thursday to report that Canary had launched its website for the Canary XRP ETF, highlighting the likely soon-to-come trading launch.
“Canary Capital will be first to market,” Geraci said, adding that its XRP ETF would be the sixth single crypto asset in the ETF wrapper after Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC) and Hedera (HBAR).
Source: Eric Balchunas
Other industry observers, including Crypto America’s Eleanor Terrett, shared optimism on X, noting that Nasdaq had “cleared XRPC for launch at market open” on Thursday, but some cautioned that the exchange’s letter was procedural and does not authorize trading.
“The Nasdaq letter itself does not say the ETF is effective — it only says Nasdaq approved the listing and joined the registrant’s request for SEC effectiveness,” one commentator wrote, adding that the certification is a “routine procedural letter, not confirmation that trading will start.”
With trading going live on Oct. 28, some ETF observers have suggested that these new crypto funds relied on “automatic effectiveness” provisions during the government shutdown.
Canary Capital has filed to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the price of a memecoin called Mog Coin, briefly lifting the price of the little-known token.
In a regulatory filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Canary said its ETF would hold Mog Coin (MOG), which it described as a memecoin “associated with the ‘Mog’ internet meme.”
“Because of its association with the ‘Mog’ meme culture and its community-driven branding, some consider MOG both a cultural statement and a digital collector’s item,” Canary said in its filing.
Asset managers have flooded the SEC with ETF filings tied to increasingly speculative crypto tokens, and the regulator approved generic ETF listing standards in September that reduced the barriers to launching crypto products.
MOG climbs on ETF filing
Mog Coin is worth just fractions of a cent and has declined by over 80% in the past 12 months. However, Canary’s filing saw its price briefly spike, which has since settled to a gain of 5.5% over the past day.
Mog Coin’s price over the past day saw a spike on Canary’s ETF filing. Source: Nansen
The token’s value was worth under $140 million earlier on Wednesday, before jumping to a peak of over $169.5 million on Canary’s filing. It has since settled to a market value of $146.3 million.
Nansen data shows the token was created in July 2023 and just over 39,000 wallets currently hold MOG, with the 100 largest tokenholders controlling 53% of its supply.
Canary said that the promoters and community tied to MOG “have not announced any particular blockchain-based utility for MOG beyond its branding and cultural associations.”
It added that there was “no guarantee such uses or benefits will materialize or that the cultural goodwill surrounding MOG will grow or be sustained over any period of time.”
Canary said the ETF may also have to hold up to 5% of its assets in Ether (ETH) to help pay for transaction fees on the blockchain, as the token is native to the network.
SEC set to review speculative crypto ETFs
Canary has filed to launch a host of ETF tracking altcoins, including one that tracks SEI, the native token of the Sei network, and Official Trump (TRUMP), President Donald Trump’s memecoin.
The SEC is now expected to resume its review process for crypto ETFs after Trump signed a funding bill passed by the House on Wednesday, bringing an end to a 43-day government shutdown, the longest in history.
Bitcoin’s price swings are no longer affecting institutional interest in crypto technology, such as tokenization, meaning it now has a solid leg to stand on its own, according to Thomas Cowan, head of tokenization at Galaxy.
Cowan told Cointelegraph at The Bridge conference in New York City on Wednesday that there has been a “separation of the interest in tokenization from the price of Bitcoin” over the past few months.
“In previous cycles, as Bitcoin and other alts have run up, there’s been an interest in tokenization, all the major traditional financial institutions have built out their crypto and tokenization teams, and then when the prices have crashed, those teams have gotten much smaller,” he said.
“Now, I think we’re getting to the point where it’s almost independent of the price of Bitcoin, that people see the benefits that blockchain can have to move and store traditional financial assets.”
Tokenization, where assets such as oil or bonds are represented digitally on a blockchain, has experienced significant growth over the past year, as the Trump administration has eased regulations on cryptocurrency, spurring interest from major traditional finance companies.
Thomas Cowan speaking at an Aptos event in New York City on Wednesday. Source: YouTube
Bitcoin (BTC) has gone up and down through the year, reaching a peak of over $126,000 in early October, but it has since declined by nearly 20% to around $102,000.
Crypto must pitch “clear benefits” of tokenization
Cowan said that he hoped next year would see the industry “really demonstrate” to institutions that tokenization “is just a better, faster, cheaper way for them to move and store their financial assets.”
“For these large organizations that think in decades, you really want to make sure that we’re demonstrating the clear benefits that this technology has, so that they can say, ‘Look, we see this as a durable, long-term trend. It’s inevitable,” he said.
“They just see that technology as something that is going to be the back end of their financial institutions.”
Stablecoins to money market funds are “logical next step”
Cowan said that stablecoins, which have exploded in popularity after the US passed laws to regulate the tokens earlier this year, are a crypto use case that is “off to the races.”
He added that tokenized money market funds, which invest in assets like government bonds, have also “really come into the market” with increasing institutional interest.
“As people move their capital onchain, they want that risk-free rate that they’re forgoing when they’re holding stablecoins,” Cowan said. “A very logical next step to go from stables to money market funds.”
Cowan added that the industry is nearing a point where the technology “does actually demonstrate to the major financial companies that have been on the sidelines of previous cycles that this really is transformative.”
“This is the time to invest,” he said. “Because they’re going to see it really happen in the next couple of years.”
Bitcoin Depot (Nasdaq: BTM), the largest Bitcoin ATM operator in North America, is entering the Asian market with a new launch in Hong Kong, marking the company’s first international expansion into the region.
According to an announcement on Wednesday, the expansion reflects a strategy to reach markets with strong demand for easy cash-to-crypto conversion. Bitcoin Depot aims to be among the top five Bitcoin ATM operators in Hong Kong, it said.
“Hong Kong is quickly becoming a global center for crypto, with the right mix of regulation, demand, and momentum,” said Scott Buchana, Bitcoin Depot’s president and chief operating officer.
Bitcoin ATMs in Hong Kong must obtain a Money Service Operator license from the Customs and Excise Department to legally facilitate cash-to-crypto transactions.
According to data from Coin ATM Radar, there are 223 Bitcoin ATMs operating in the city.
A company spokesperson also told Cointelegraph that its “compliance team worked closely with local partners to ensure our Hong Kong operations meet all applicable requirements, including licensing, AML, and KYC standards.”
In November, Franklin Templeton launched a tokenized US dollar money market fund for Hong Kong’s professional investors, marking the city’s first fully onchain fund that integrates issuance, distribution and servicing.
A Bitcoin ATM is a kiosk that lets users buy or sell Bitcoin using cash or debit cards. Since Jan. 1, 2021, their number has grown by 177% to 39,469, according to data from CoinATM Radar.
The United States leads with 30,869 Bitcoin kiosks, but growth has been faster elsewhere. Australia, for instance, has surged from just 21 machines in 2021 to 2,019 today, becoming the third-largest hub for Bitcoin ATMs, behind the US and Canada.
Bitcoin ATMs have faced pushback in both countries. In the US, the FBI has warned of rising criminal use of crypto kiosks, reporting nearly 11,000 fraud complaints worth over $246 million in 2024.
In Australia, Tony Burke, the country’s minister for cybersecurity and home affairs, said in November that while the government isn’t advocating an outright ban on crypto ATMs, new legislation aims to provide the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) with the power to do so.
Technology company IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced new developments in its quantum computing research, including advances in processors, software, and error correction.
At its annual Quantum Developer Conference in New York on Wednesday, the company outlined plans to achieve quantum advantage by 2026 and fault-tolerant systems by 2029.
Quantum advantage refers to the point at which a quantum computer can solve a problem faster or more efficiently than any classical supercomputer. IBM said its new “Nighthawk” processor will play a central role in reaching that milestone, delivering circuits 30% more complex than its previous generation while maintaining low error rates.
The company also introduced “Loon,” an experimental processor that brings together the core hardware for fault-tolerant quantum computing, systems capable of detecting and correcting their own errors in real-time.
IBM said it has made its error-correction system 10 times faster than before, completing the milestone a year ahead of schedule. The company also doubled its chip development pace after moving production to a new 300-millimeter wafer facility in New York.
While quantum computing is in its early stages, its potential to one day break the encryption securing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using proof-of-work algorithms has become one of the most widely discussed issues in the crypto space.
Amit Mehra, a partner at Borderless Capital, said in October that quantum computing is expected to pose significant security risks by the end of the decade, which is driving the company’s focus on startups working on quantum-resistant technology.
Others, like Charles Edwards, the founder of quantitative Bitcoin and crypto asset fund Carpriole, view the threat as more immediate. “If Bitcoin doesn’t solve Quantum in the next year, Gold will keep outperforming it forever,” wrote on X.
Gianluca Di Bella, a smart-contract researcher, echoed Edwards’ concern. In an interview with Cointelegraph in November, he warned that the industry “should migrate now” to post-quantum encryption, citing the risk of “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks — where data stolen today could be unlocked once quantum computers mature.
Also in November, onchain analyst Willy Woo said Bitcoin holders could protect themselves against quantum computing by transferring their coins to a SegWit-compatible address and holding until a quantum-resistant solution is created.
Shares of Leap Therapeutics (Nasdaq: LPTX) surged more than 170% in early trading on Wednesday after the company announced a shift to a crypto treasury strategy.
The company announced its rebranding as Cypherpunk Technologies (Nasdaq: CYPH) and adoption of a digital asset treasury strategy focused on Zcash (ZEC), the native token of the Zcash protocol.
The biotech company used $50 million from a $58.88 million private placement led by Winklevoss Capital to purchase 203,775 Zcash (ZEC) at an average price of $245.37 per token, marking a move away from biotechnology and into the crypto sector.
Winklevoss Capital is a venture capital firm founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who also co-founded the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini.
“As our lives have moved online, privacy’s become a rare, vanishing commodity… That’s why we founded Cypherpunk — a company dedicated to privacy and self-sovereignty,” Tyler Winklevoss, one of the founders of crypto exchange Gemini, wrote on X.
Launched in 2016 as a Bitcoin fork, Zcash (ZEC) is a privacy-focused blockchain that uses zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) to verify transactions without revealing sender, receiver, or amount.
Cypherpunk’s new business strategy comes with two additions to its board of directors. Khing Oei, the CEO of a European Bitcoin treasury company, will serve as chairman of the board. Will McEvoy, principal at Winklevoss Capital, will serve as Cypherpunk’s chief investment officer.
The rise of Zcash
ZEC has been on a ride this year. The token staged a sharp rebound, jumping from about $48 in early September to over $640 within weeks and reclaiming a spot among the top 20 cryptocurrencies.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes recently predicted ZEC’s price could reach $1,000 in 2025. However, recent technical indicators suggest a price correction could be in store.
According to market analysts, the token is now the most overbought on record, with its relative strength index (RSI) reaching 94.24 this week.
Historically, when ZEC’s relative strength index (RSI) climbs above 70, the token often extends its rally for weeks before undergoing steep corrections that have ranged from roughly 45% to more than 90%.
Crypto market observers are preparing for price movements as the historical US government shutdown seems within sight.
The US government is still technically shut down as of publishing time, but a continuing resolution that would fund critical government services through January has made its way from the Senate to the House of Representatives.
The shutdown affects a number of vital federal functions, including the ability for securities and commodities regulators to approve crypto listings. Lawmaking has also ground to a halt, with the possibility of the crypto framework bill passing by year’s end becoming ever smaller.
Following the last government shutdown, Bitcoin’s (BTC) price spiked. But conditions are different now; there are broader headwinds facing crypto markets.
The Senate voted 60-40 to end the shutdown on Monday. Source: US Senate
Crypto markets surged after the 2019 government shutdown
The current US government shutdown has now marked its 43rd day, making it the longest in the country’s history. The previous record shutdown lasted 35 days, also under the presidency of Donald Trump during his first term in office.
Government shutdowns occur when Congress cannot agree on a resolution to fund government activities. As a result, the government literally does not have a budget and cannot continue with a number of critical activities. These include dispersing benefits like food assistance for needy families and even paying critical workers like flight controllers.
For the crypto industry, it means agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are operating on skeleton crews. The SEC has not been able to render a decision on different crypto-related filings like those for exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The impact on the economy is undeniable. Greg Daco, chief economist at consulting firm EY-Parthenon, said that there will be “visible and permanent loss of economic activity as a result of the government shutdown.”
But markets, including major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, aren’t as affected. This was the case during the 2018-2019 shutdown during Trump’s first term.
Then, Bitcoin’s price did fall around 16%, to $3,500 from around $4,200. But after the government reopened, Bitcoin’s price went on a tear, soaring to $13,000, an almost 300% increase, in just five months.
Nearly seven years later, Bitcoin is down over the course of the shutdown, albeit by a smaller margin of 12%. Bitcoin’s price started the shutdown around $120,000 and is currently trading near $105,000.
Analysts are now looking to another possible bull run in crypto markets once Washington reopens. According to Ben Lilly, an analyst at JLabs Digital and Browns Research, there are “some surrounding catalysts that would create strong tailwinds for the digital asset markets.”
“These catalysts being a possible Federal Reserve rate cut with odds of a 25bps cut currently at 67%, the TGA account adding liquidity into markets as the shutdown ends, the end of quantitative tightening beginning in December per the Federal Reserve, and crypto markets haven’t produced substantial gains in 2025 so we could see firms position themselves in December for 2026 instead of profit taking for tax season like last year,” he said.
Still, Lilly said that the shutdown “has been a wet blanket” for crypto markets. He said it has led to “a loss of momentum that has translated to digital assets missing out on much of the gains realized in equity markets.”
Nic Puckrin, crypto analyst and co-founder of The Coin Bureau, is also uncertain about a post-shutdown boom.
“The crypto market has been struggling to regain momentum since October’s pandemonium, and Bitcoin appears to be fighting one battle after another, dragged down by US dollar strength and higher Treasury yields, long-term holders selling, and macro uncertainty.”
Another stimulus check?
History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes. Citing a massive inflow of revenue from the trade tariffs he began imposing earlier this year, Trump announced that he would be issuing a $2,000 stimulus check to Americans.
During the economic crisis that followed the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump issued similar $1,200 economic stimulus checks to Americans, which saw crypto prices skyrocket.
As the pseudonymous Ash Crypto account on X noted, “Last time this happened, It started the 2021 crypto bull run where Bitcoin pumped from $3,800 to $69,000.”
The Kobeissi Letter, a newsletter on global markets, said they expect a price surge, given the combination of possible rate cuts, record highs and stimulus check: “Buckle up.”
But trading platforms like Robinhood, which saw record volumes as recipients spent their stimulus checks on stocks and crypto, may do well to wait before they celebrate.
Firstly, it isn’t even clear which form, if any at all, the payments would take. Trump said that low- and middle-class Americans would qualify but didn’t elaborate on income levels. He also promised to spend any money left over to pay down the US’s substantial national debt.
Secondly, Trump’s tariff policy is currently under intense legal scrutiny as the Supreme Court deliberates over whether it was legal. The Constitution says Congress has the power to levy tariffs, but over the past year, Trump has imposed new taxes on imported goods without approval or comment from the legislature. If the court rules against Trump, it could cut out a major pillar of his economic policy and his ability to levy and distribute tariffs in the form of a stimulus check.
There are many similar factors affecting crypto between the 2019 and current government shutdowns. But crucial indicators like interest rates, as well as further political turmoil in the Trump administration, make a bullish outcome far from certain.
Arjun Sethi, the co-CEO of major crypto exchange Kraken, criticized the United Kingdom’s crypto regulations, which he said hinder services for their customers.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Sethi said that “in the UK today, if you go to any crypto website, including Kraken’s, you see the equivalent to a cigarette box.” He suggested that the disclaimers have a significant impact on customer experience.
Sethi suggested that disclosures slow users down and that, because of the importance of speed in crypto trading, “it’s worse for customers.” He concluded that “disclosures are important […] but if there are 14 steps, it’s worse.”
The UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) updated financial promotion regime came into force in October 2023. It introduced a “cooling-off” period for first-time crypto investors and required firms to assess whether users had sufficient knowledge and experience before allowing them to trade.
Sethi said that the rules may prompt customers to avoid investing in crypto altogether, potentially leading to missed potential gains. The FCA defended the rules, noting that “some consumers may make an informed decision that investing in crypto is not right for them — that is our rules working as intended.”
Example of disclaimer from the Kraken website. Source: Kraken
Despite frustrations with the FCA, the UK appears to be moving toward a broader alignment with the United States on digital-asset oversight.
Lisa Cameron, a former UK member of Parliament and founder of the UK-US Crypto Alliance, said she believed a joint “sandbox” between the UK and the US was in development to align their crypto markets.
She came to this conclusion after discussion with US senators and regulators and expects the sandbox’s purpose to be to “iron out some of this in terms of passporting” for crypto licenses between the UK and the US.
On Monday, the Bank of England published a consultation paper proposing a regulatory framework for stablecoins. The new legislation focuses on sterling-denominated “systemic stablecoins,” which are widely used in payments, similar to the US’s GENIUS Act.
A crypto collaboration between the UK and the US is not a new phenomenon. September reports noted that Treasury authorities in the US and UK created a transatlantic task force to explore “short-to-medium term collaboration on digital assets.” Also in September, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed how the two nations could strengthen their coordination on crypto.
September also saw UK trade groups urge the UK government to include blockchain technology in a technology collaboration with the US program known as “Tech Bridge.” A joint letter by the organization warned that “excluding digital assets from the UK-US Tech Bridge would be a missed opportunity,” and that it “risks leaving Britain on the sidelines.”
Bitwise’s spot Chainlink exchange-traded fund (ETF) has appeared on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation’s registry, a usually positive sign that the fund is moving closer to launch.
The Bitwise Chainlink ETF was added to the DTCC’s “active” and “pre-launch” categories on Tuesday under the ticker CLNK. The listings don’t guarantee that the US Securities and Exchange Commission will approve the ETF, but they have historically been a good indicator that a product is set to be greenlit.
DTCC is a post-trade market infrastructure platform that clears, settles, and records transactions, serving as a central hub for markets to ensure trades in assets like stocks and ETFs are processed efficiently and securely.
Bitwise is yet to file a Form 8-A for its Chainlink product, one of the final documents that must be lodged before securities are offered on an exchange, and often means that a product’s launch is imminent.
Grayscale is another crypto asset manager that has a spot Chainlink ETF in the works. However, it may face more regulatory challenges than Bitwise’s as it seeks to incorporate staking.
Government shutdown slows ETF process
Dozens of spot crypto ETFs are currently awaiting SEC approval amid the US government shutdown, which is in its 42nd day but is expected to end sometime this week after the Senate passed a funding bill.
Crypto asset managers have filed ETFs to track increasingly speculative altcoins in the hopes of attracting investor attention, from Dogecoin (DOGE) and Solana (SOL) to Aptos (APT), Avalanche (AVAX) and Hedera (HBAR).
New SEC listing standards could see more approvals
Industry analysts are now expecting more spot crypto ETFs to be approved as the SEC created new generic listing standards that enable the approval of crypto investment products without them needing to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
The SEC’s new listing standards were released on Sept. 17, less than two weeks before the US government shutdown, leaving little time for the new rules to be put to use.
Since then, the government shutdown has forced the SEC to operate with limited capacity and funding.
The first US-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) to directly hold XRP could hit the market as soon as Thursday, after crypto investment firm Canary Capital filed key documents for its fund.
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said on Tuesday that Canary had filed a Form 8A with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday night, which must be lodged before securities are offered on an exchange.
Balchunas said the filing “points to launch tomorrow or Thursday” as Form 8A filings for Hedera (HBAR) ETFs saw those funds launch the next day.
“Not [a] done deal but all boxes being checked,” Balchunas added. “Stay tuned.”
Crypto reporter Eleanor Trent said Canary’s filing was “the final step before it goes effective at 5:30 PM ET Wednesday once the Nasdaq certifies the listing.”
“When that happens, the last hurdle is cleared and the first XRP spot ETF will be set to launch Thursday at market open,” she said.
Other XRP (XRP) exchange-traded products have launched in the US, but Canary’s ETF was filed under the Securities Act of 1933, which allows it to directly hold XRP compared to others that invest in an offshore company that holds the crypto.
Not the only XRP ETF in the works
Anticipation has been building in the XRP community over the past few days as the government shutdown started to wind down, with the first spot XRP ETF set to be a major milestone.
