TL;DR

• The SEC must clarify its appeal in the Ripple case by October 17, with the full briefing process potentially extending to July 2025.
• Despite the ongoing legal battle, analysts remain hopeful about XRP’s future, especially if Bitcoin’s price rallies.

What’s Next?

The lengthy legal battle between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems nowhere near its end after the regulator appealed a 2023 verdict set by Judge Analissa Torres. Back then, she ruled that secondary sales of XRP did not constitute securities sales.

Earlier this week, the X user Ashley PROSPER claimed the SEC has until today (October 16) to reveal what it is actually appealing against. Interestingly, the deadline marks the end of Ripple Swell (the company’s annual flagship event held this year in Miami, Florida).

Most recently, Eleanor Terrett (a popular Fox Business journalist) spoke with Stuart Alderoty (the company’s CLO), who outlined “a rundown of the appeals timeline.” According to the exec, the watchdog has until October 17 to file Form C, “which will give some level of detail about what it plans to appeal.”

Ripple will then have seven days to file its own Form C, which will present additional information about its own cross-appeal.

After that, both entities will shake hands on a briefing schedule. The SEC will have 90 days to file its first brief, and Ripple will respond shortly after.

“Alderoty says he expects them to take the full 90 days. That opening brief will be a full recitation of all the legal arguments that the SEC will be making,” Terrett said.

Ripple’s CLO expects the full briefing process to go through July 2025. Some X users commenting on the post expressed frustration that the lawsuit will most probably drag on for a few more years, which could add a new doze of uncertainty and suppress the price of XRP. 

XRP Volatility

The latest announcement related to the Ripple v. SEC case coincides with the shaky performance of the company’s native token. It hovered between $0.52 and $0.55 in the past week and is currently worth around $0.53 (per CoinGecko’s data).

Despite that, numerous analysts envision good days ahead for XRP. The Moon (an X user with over 1.3 million followers) maintained that the asset is “holding strong” and could “regain bullish momentum” should BTC soar above $67,000. Recall that the primary cryptocurrency briefly pumped to almost $68,000 less than 24 hours ago, trading at around $66,800 as of the moment.

Grayscale Investments has filed a request with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert its mixed-crypto fund into an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

This development comes as Canary Capital makes plans for a spot Litecoin ETF.

Grayscale’s New ETF

Currently trading over the counter, Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) has $524 million in assets under management. According to company documentation, Bitcoin (BTC) accounts for 75% of the portfolio, and Ethereum (ETH) makes up 19%. The remainder consists of Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), and XRP.

If approved, Grayscale expects to list the ETF on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The exchange has already filed a 19b-4 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) supporting the conversion.

This move follows Grayscale’s success earlier this year in converting its Bitcoin (GBTC) and Ethereum (ETHE) funds and smaller versions of both into ETFs.

In September, the firm also launched a dedicated XRP trust to track the price of the token. Similar to its existing Bitcoin and Ethereum funds, this trust could be converted into a spot XRP ETF.

Despite Ripple’s ongoing legal challenges with the SEC, CEO Brad Garlinghouse has expressed confidence that XRP will eventually have its own ETF.

Grayscale isn’t the only player seeking to enter the XRP ETF market. In recent weeks, Bitwise and Canary Capital have logged their applications with the SEC for spot XRP ETFs. These funds aim to track the token’s price using the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s CF Ripple index.

Canary Capital Eyes Litecoin ETF

Meanwhile, Canary Capital has also revealed plans for a Litecoin ETF. According to its proposal, the ETF would hold Litecoin (LTC) and use the CoinDesk Litecoin Price Index to establish its daily net asset value.

CoinGecko data shows that LTC has a market capitalization of nearly $5.3 billion, making it the 26th-largest cryptocurrency.

In a statement shared by Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terret, Canary Capital described Litecoin as a reliable, long-established digital asset with significant institutional potential.

“With its strong foundation, Litecoin continues to play a leading role in the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem, which Canary believes could make it attractive to a wider range of institutional investors,” read the comment.

Earlier this month, a spokesperson from the venture capital firm expressed optimism regarding the SEC’s potential assent of these funds, citing “encouraging signs of a more flexible regulatory environment” following previous approvals.

Bitcoin went through a massive rollercoaster yesterday by surging to a multi-month peak of $68,000, dumping by several grand before calming at around $67,000.

Litecoin and Dogecoin have popped up as today’s top performers from the larger-cap alts, both jumping by around 6%.

BTC’s Peak, Retracement, Calmness

It was just last Thursday when the cryptocurrency landscape was quite dire, with BTC dumping hard to a monthly low of under $59,000. However, the bulls managed to intercept the move and helped the asset recover almost all losses by the weekend.

As such, bitcoin stood around $63,000 on Saturday and Sunday but went on the offensive hard on Monday and Tuesday. This culminated yesterday with a price surge to $68,000, which left over $250 million in liquidations.

However, the aset failed to maintain its run at first and was pushed south by about three grand within minutes. Nevertheless, the bulls prevailed once again, and BTC currently trades above $67,000, being 2% up in the past 24 hours.

This rally, which is likely fueled by the growing demand for the spot ETFs, has pushed bitcoin’s market cap to nearly $1.330 trillion. Its dominance over the alts has also soared to 55%, according to CG data.

DOGE, LTC Jump

Most altcoins charted impressive gains yesterday and were also on BTC’s rollercoaster. Looking at a 24-hour scale, though, the landscape is a lot calmer.

Ethereum, Binance Coin, Solana, Ripple, and Tron are all with either insignificant gains or minor losses. However, DOGE has shot up by more than 6% within the same timeframe and now trades above $0.124.

Litecoin’s daily surge is identical, and LTC now trades north of $70. Still, the total crypto market cap has gained about $30 billion since yesterday and a whopping $130 billion in the past two days alone. The metric is now above $2.4 trillion on CG.