The REX-Osprey Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) launched with a bang, surpassing analysts expectations on its debut trading day.

The REX-Osprey ETF (XRPR), a collaboration between REX Shares and Osprey Funds, went live on the Cboe BZX Exchange on September 18.

Explosive First Day Volumes

XRPR was a fast gainer from the word go, with the product raking in $24 million in volume within its first hour and a half on the market. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that the figure is way more than he had expected. He explained that it was up to five times higher than the first-day totals of any XRP futures ETF.

The same can be said about its counterpart, the Dogecoin-tracking REX-Osprey DOGE ETF (DOJE), which debuted on the same day. On Thursday, Balchunas initially projected that it would likely reach about $2.5 million in daily volume, calling that a decent but unremarkable figure.

However, within the first hour of it going live, trading activity surged to nearly $6 million. “That’s shockingly solid,” he commented, adding that most ETFs see less than $1 million on their opening day.

Greg King, CEO of the company, said in a statement that investors view ETFs as tools for trading and access, noting that the “digital asset revolution is already underway.” He added that they are proud to offer exposure to popular digital assets within the protections of the U.S. ’40 Act ETF framework, a goal it has worked diligently to achieve.

Unique Spot Crypto ETFs

REX Shares and Osprey Funds operate independently but work together strategically to launch spot crypto ETFs. Their latest filings stand out because they were submitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, a federal law that governs pooled investment funds and is designed to protect investors from conflicts of interest and fraud. This approach is different from the legal framework used by most existing crypto-linked ETFs.

The XRPR fund is set up similarly to the REX-Osprey Solana Staking ETF launched in June, using specific legal methods to operate under U.S. regulations. The Solana fund was the first in the country to track SOL prices and also offer staking rewards.

In another related development, the U.S. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also gave a go-ahead to the first multi-asset crypto ETF that gives investors exposure to the CoinDesk Large Cap Select Index. Grayscale’s Digital Large-Cap Fund (GDLC) was officially approved for listing and trading on September 18, following a previous stay order by the agency that had delayed its debut.

Elsewhere, the financial watchdog made the ETF listing process easier for issuers by adopting generic registration standards that remove the long 19 (B) filing process.