TL;DR

• BlackRock’s Cryptocurrency ETFs: Filed for a Bitcoin ETF and showed interest in an Ethereum ETF in 2023, impacting market prices, especially for Ethereum.
• Market Response: Significant price surge in cryptocurrencies due to BlackRock’s strong track record in ETF application approvals.
• XRP ETF Speculation: No current filing for an XRP ETF by BlackRock, with the decision possibly influenced by Ripple’s ongoing legal issues with the SEC.

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager. Its involvement with the field of cryptocurrencies can be traced back years, but it was in June this year when the company got really serious.

On June 16th, BlackRock filed an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company plans to use Coinbase to provide custody for the BTC that will be backing the funds.

Moreover, the $10 trillion asset manager has also expressed interest in Ethereum. Let’s unpack.

BlackRock and Spot Crypto ETFs

Apart from the application for a spot Bitcoin ETF filed in June 2023, BlackRock has also signaled its interest in filing for a spot ETH ETF as well.

The company has registered the iShares Ethereum Trust in Delaware, which signals that there might be an SEC filing coming soon. The price of ETH has surged in response, climbing above the coveted $2K level and currently trading close to $2.1K.

It’s obvious that these filings have a massive impact on the price, mostly because BlackRock has an astonishing track record when it comes to getting their applications approved. The market is optimistic that the SEC will finally approve a spot for BTC and ETH ETFs.

That’s why we decided to poke the artificial brains of ChatGPT to see if BlackRock would file an application for another incredibly popular and old-school cryptocurrency – Ripple’s XRP.

Will BlackRock File for an XRP ETF?

Needless to say, ChatGPT confirmed what we already knew: