The internal compliance team of Jupiter Asset Management has purportedly withdrawn its investment in the 21Shares Ripple XRP exchange-traded product (ETP) on account of regulatory concerns in Ireland. The company lost $834 on its initial investment of more than $2 million in the fund.
In the first half of 2023, Jupiter put $2,571,504 into the 21Shares Ripple XRP ETP (AXRP), according to a recent Financial Times report. It wasn’t made clear when the initial investment was made, though. In the meantime, the ETP produced a 31.7% return during a one-year period, but during the last half-year, it has decreased by 13.2%.
Since its inception in March 2019, the AXRP has been monitoring XRP’s performance. The ETP has $50,497,518 in assets under management (AUM), according to the 21Shares website. The study clarified that asset managers are prohibited from dealing with cryptocurrency while they operate under the Ireland’s Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Directive (UCITS).
According to reports, Jupiter disposed off the investment after discovering the deal in one of its Irish UCIT funds at a loss of $834, Jupiter sold its Ripple XRP ETP stake for $2,570,670. “The trade was made, detected by our routine monitoring procedure, and subsequently canceled.”
This is in the midst of continuous debate on the possible establishment of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for XRP, especially in light of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent approval of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs. However, other analysts surmise that it could be improbable given the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the SEC over whether or not XRP counts as a security.
Townsend Lansing, the head of product at CoinShares, reportedly stated on January 24 that an XRP ETF wouldn’t be possible unless the SEC was compelled to acknowledge or consented to acknowledge that XRP isn’t a security.
The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, thinks that additional cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will be allowed in 2024 as a result of the recent approval of a number of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US though he refrained from making a clear prediction regarding the approval of an XRP ETF by the SEC, Garlinghouse did anticipate that an Ethereum ETF would be approved soon in a recent interview with CNBC.