SEC’s ETF Approvals Unaffected by XRP Spike on Hoax Filing

The Nov. 13 XRP (XRP) price action stemming from a falsified BlackRock XRP trust filing shouldn’t sway the United States securities regulator’s decision to approve or delay spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — but it isn’t a good look, say industry observers.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has previously claimed the Bitcoin marketcan be manipulated and has knocked back spot Bitcoin ETFs, citing a lack of market manipulation controls.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas told Cointelegraph that the fake XRP filing should have little to no impact on the SEC’s final decision.

“We doubt this will impact the situation with spot Bitcoin ETFs,” Balchunas said. However, he added that the incident could validate the SEC’s beliefs.

The Nov. 13 filing on the Delaware list of corporations website showed BlackRock creating the “iShares XRP Trust,” a precursor to launching an ETF.

The filing resulted in XRP spiking 12.3% in 30 minutes before it tumbled back down just as quickly once the filing was outed as a hoax by Balchunas and others who received BlackRock’s confirmation that the filing was made by someone posing as its managing director, Daniel Schwieger.

Michael Bacina, a partner at the law firm Piper Alderman and chair of the industry group Blockchain Australia, told Cointelegraph he would be “surprised” if the SEC used the incident to postpone ETF applications.

“It’s unlikely an isolated rumor such as this would provide a legal basis for delaying ETF applications already being considered, particularly where they are already subject to deadlines,” he said.

Lucas Kiely, CEO of wealth management platform Yield App, said the faked XRP filing wouldn’t sway the SEC and stressed the crypto community should “calm down.”

“It is highly unlikely that this incident will play any role in that decision,” Kiely said.

He iterated that many X (formerly Twitter) pundits have posted fear-mongering headlines to capture audience attention and “spoof the markets.”

The incident involving the fake XRP filing did not have any effect on the decision of the SEC regarding spot Bitcoin ETFs. According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, the incident could, however, validate the SEC’s beliefs. Michael Bacina, a partner at the law firm Piper Alderman and chair of the industry group Blockchain Australia, said he would be “surprised” if the SEC used the incident to postpone ETF applications. Lucas Kiely, CEO of wealth management platform Yield App, said the faked XRP filing wouldn’t sway the SEC and stressed the crypto community should “calm down”. He added that many X (formerly Twitter) pundits have posted fear-mongering headlines to capture audience attention and “spoof the markets”.

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XRP filing “could easily undermine” ETF efforts

The SEC has previously rejected several spot Bitcoin ETFs due to concerns about investors not being protected from “fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices”, according to James Edwards, a crypto analyst at Australian fintech firm Finder.

He believes that the fake XRP trust filing will not alter this opinion.

“Unfortunately, events like these could easily undermine efforts to launch a Bitcoin ETF in the U.S.,” Edwards said, referring to the potential impact of the muse crypto and kadena crypto filing.

The Delaware Department of Justice will investigate the fake XRP trust filing further.

Meanwhile, BlackRock has applied for a spot Ether ETF on Nov. 9, in addition to its spot Bitcoin ETF filed in June, and is now waiting for approval from regulators.