Grayscale Launches XRP Trust, Reviving Access to the Cryptocurrency

Grayscale, a digital asset management firm, announced on Thursday the launch of the "Grayscale XRP Trust," a closed-end fund allowing investors exposure to XRP tokens.

"We believe the Grayscale XRP Trust will provide investors with access to a protocol with significant real-world use cases," said Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Grayscale's Head of Product and Research, in a press release on Thursday. "By facilitating cross-border payments that can be completed in seconds, XRP has the potential to revolutionize the traditional financial infrastructure."

Grayscale states that the new fund is now open for daily subscriptions by eligible individual and institutional accredited investors. Following the announcement, the price of XRP briefly surged over 8% before quickly retracting. As of this writing, XRP is trading at $0.56.

Grayscale previously managed an XRP fund, which was closed in 2021 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Ripple, the company behind XRP, alleging the token was a security under U.S. law.

Over the past two months, Grayscale has been actively launching trust funds for various cryptocurrencies, including Avalanche's AVAX, MakerDAO (now Sky)'s MKR, Sui blockchain's SUI, and Bittensor's TAO. The firm also received approval this year to convert its Bitcoin and Ethereum trust funds into spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).