Grayscale has applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to change its XRP Trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) on NYSE Arca.

According to a filing lodged with the regulatory agency, the XRP Trust is among the largest investment instruments anchored to Ripple’s native token, with more than $16 million in assets under management.

Spot XRP ETF

Grayscale’s justification for seeking to convert the trust into an ETF is that such a product would give investors greater access to XRP without the cost and complexity of directly buying the asset, all while being overseen by a national securities exchange.

The asset management giant now joins a host of investment firms, including CoinShares, Wisdom Tree, ProShares, REX Shares, and Bitwise, who have all submitted filings for XRP ETFs.

The flurry of activity comes hot on the heels of the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th U.S. President. His pro-crypto outlook has encouraged many digital asset companies to explore new offerings, with Grayscale submitting applications for Solana and Litecoin ETFs only a week ago.

Earlier, the Stamford-based company also introduced its Grayscale Bitcoin Miners ETF to expose investors to publicly traded BTC mining companies such as Riot, Marathon Digital, and Core Scientific.

The SEC, under interim Chair Mark Uyeda, has set up a dedicated task force to develop a regulatory framework for the crypto industry. While the agency, under its former head Gary Gensler, approved ETFs tracking Bitcoin and Ethereum, its insistence that most cryptocurrencies qualified as securities meant that the market’s options for crypto-related ETFs were limited.

XRP Under Fire

XRP itself is at the center of a long-running legal feud between its parent company and the SEC, with the regulator accusing Ripple Labs and several of its executives of raising $1.3 billion through an unregistered securities offering.

While a recent removal of the lawsuit on the financial watchdog’s website sparked speculation among the XRP community that the case may have been finally resolved, attorney Jeremy Hogan insisted that it is still on and nothing had changed.

Meanwhile, a recent executive order to explore the creation and makeup of a national digital asset reserve had sections of the Bitcoin community up in arms against XRP over its possible inclusion in such a stockpile.

The endless drama seems to have taken a slight toll on the coins price, which dropped by a marginal 0.6% in the last 24 hours. The loss is more significant across a fortnight, with CoinGecko data showing XRP dipped by nearly 7%.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom; over 30 days, Ripple’s native token is up 44.9%, with analysts optimistic it can break its all-time high of $3.4 in the short term to jump to $4.5.