• Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, says that they are open to an XRP ETF.
• His comments come after the SEC approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January and amid speculation over an XRP ETF.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has said the company would welcome an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for its token XRP. 

The Ripple executive commented on this during an interview with Bloomberg, noting that the crypto industry will see more spot ETFs in future.

According to Garlighouse, the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January this year was largely down to the regulator’s hand being forced. He highlighted the court’s decision in the Grayscale vs. SEC case as what pushed SEC Chair Gary Gensler to give the spot ETFs a nod.

“You know, the sad reality of what we saw with the Bitcoin ETF is it was only because the courts forced the SEC’s hand, and really chair Gensler’s hand, that we saw that [approval] finally come to fruition,” he noted.

Ripple okay with XRP ETF

The Ripple chief believes that the eventual approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US is good for the crypto markets and the broader investment community. About what recent developments mean for a potential XRP ETF, and whether Ripple welcomes this, Garlinghouse said:

“We would certainly welcome it. And I think it’s inevitable that there’ll be, you know, multiple ETFs around different tokens. I think you’ll even see ETFs potentially around baskets that also, I think further diversify that risk given there’s so much excitement around the ETF dynamic here.”

While he could not comment on whether Ripple had engaged BlackRock and other large ETF holders (most of these asset managers have submitted filings for Ethereum spot ETFs), the Ripple CEO did agree that the outlook for a potential approval for one makes sense for XRP community.

Ripple won against the SEC last year on two separate occasions – when a US court declared XRP is not a security and when the lawsuit against Garlinghouse and Ripple founder and Chairman Chris Larsen was “dismissed with prejudice.” 

Although XRP price rose sharply around these victories, it remains well off its all-time highs.

The Ripple exec says the headwinds that followed the SEC’s lawsuit contributed to this. XRP price hovers around $0.53 on Wednesday morning, down 5% as crypto dips ahead of FOMC minutes.  The altcoin reached highs of $3.40 in 2018.