Bitwise’s XRP ETF Debuts During a Market Pullback as 2026 ETF Wave Looms

Institutional Demand Grows Despite XRP’s Weak Q4 Performance

TL;DR

• Bitwise launches its XRP ETF on NYSE with a 0.34% fee, debuting during a period of falling XRP prices and risk-off sentiment.
• XRPL fundamentals—multi-billion transaction history, rapid settlement, and cross-border payment ambitions—form the backbone of Bitwise’s long-term thesis.
• Bitwise CIO forecasts more than 100 new crypto ETFs by 2026 as regulatory standards evolve and index-based products gain traction.

Bitwise Asset Management pushed ahead with its newest product rollout on November 20, 2025, introducing a spot XRP ETF on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “XRP,” even as the token’s recent performance raised questions about the timing. The fund carries a 0.34% management fee that Bitwise temporarily waived for the first month on the first $500 million in assets, a move aimed at accelerating early institutional participation. The launch is framed internally as a long-term infrastructure investment rather than a short-term wager on token appreciation, particularly as the broader crypto price index and coin market cap metrics have shown muted momentum alongside continued risk-off trading patterns.

Bitwise’s narrative leans heavily on the scale and efficiency of the XRP Ledger, describing it as the third-largest Layer-1 network with more than 4 billion transactions processed to date and an average daily volume of approximately $1.9 billion. Executives also highlight the XRPL’s ability to settle transactions in three to five seconds at negligible cost—a technical feature they argue positions the ecosystem to compete in the projected $250 trillion cross-border payments market by 2027. Despite those fundamentals, XRP has struggled through Q4, sliding roughly 25% as liquidity thinned and sentiment grew increasingly defensive. The XRPL’s DeFi environment has also contracted, with total value locked falling around $50 million from its late-July peak near $120 million, a reversal that underscores ongoing pressure in the network’s on-chain activity.

Market action surrounding the launch reflected that tension. XRP slipped below $2.00 on the day of the ETF’s debut, touching an intraday low near $1.98 and extending a weekly decline of roughly 16%. Analysts observing the rollout noted that the ETF’s strong operational debut did not translate into immediate price stabilization, illustrating the gap between institutional product development and spot-market behavior. Comparisons to Bitcoin’s surge following its own spot ETF introductions were quickly dismissed by Bitwise itself, which cautioned that XRP is unlikely to replicate those early patterns given the current macro environment and momentum loss in the asset’s crypto price.

Longer-term dynamics may ultimately matter more to Bitwise’s positioning. CIO Matt Hougan characterized the coming year as a turning point for regulated crypto investment vehicles, predicting that 2026 could bring more than 100 new ETFs and ETPs across the market. He emphasized growing demand for index-based exposures designed for investors who prefer broad crypto market baskets over single-asset allocations, noting that many institutional buyers “want to buy a significant portion of the cryptocurrency market and hold it for the long term,” regardless of their views on individual networks like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana. Hougan’s outlook aligns with recent regulatory adjustments at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which approved streamlined listing standards expected to accelerate new product pipelines.

Bitwise’s XRP ETF represents its 49th listed product across the U.S. and Europe and forms part of a broader effort to supply regulated entry points for institutional investors seeking exposure without direct asset custody. XRP’s spot trading volume hovered around $6.48 billion near launch, with prices fluctuating around the $2.08 region as of November 21 according to independent market tracking. The subdued reaction to the ETF rollout points to a familiar tension across digital asset markets: robust infrastructure developments do not always deliver immediate gains in coin market cap rankings or in spot pricing trends. Instead, the debut underscores Bitwise’s bet that long-term adoption drivers—ranging from settlement efficiency to cross-border payment growth—will eventually matter more than the near-term softness weighing on XRP’s crypto price today.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.