Ripple CEO Praises This Massive XRP Index Initiative

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expresses enthusiasm following CME’s launch of a new reference rate and real-time indices for XRP.  

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), in collaboration with CF Benchmarks, announced earlier this week the launch of a new reference rate and real-time indices for XRP. 

Details About XRP Price Index

According to the announcement, CF Benchmarks will calculate and publish the new benchmark daily, starting July 29, 2024. CME said that with the new benchmark, market participants would gain access to transparent XRP pricing data, allowing them to accurately value their portfolios or create structured products. 

It bears mentioning that CME and CF Benchmarks also rolled out the pricing data for Internet Computer (ICP). The announcement notes that the XRP and ICP benchmarks will leverage pricing data from leading crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Bitstamp, Gemini, Kraken, itBit, and LMAX Digital. 

Notably, each newly added benchmark will be calculated using pricing data from at least two of the aforementioned exchanges for accuracy. 

Following the addition of XRP and ICP benchmarks, CME CF reference rates and real-time indices now offer pricing data for 24 cryptocurrencies, covering 93% of the investible crypto market capitalization. 

Per the announcement, the XRP and ICP reference rates will publish the U.S. Dollar price of each asset daily at 4 PM (London Time). Similarly, the real-time index of each asset will be provided per second. 

Ripple CEO Reacts 

The initiative sparked reactions across the broader crypto community, with Ripple CEO highlighting the significance of the XRP benchmark. 

The Ripple CEO characterized the XRP price index as the first step towards developing institutional crypto products. He expressed satisfaction with the index’s introduction, suggesting that the initiative reflects a response from the market. 

????First step towards institutional crypto products is to have a trusted benchmark reference rate. Nice to see @CMEGroup and @CFBenchmarks collaborate on this for an XRP index. The market has spoken. https://t.co/cKqqMLswdw

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) July 11, 2024

Is XRP ETF Around the Corner?  

Meanwhile, the newly introduced benchmark has triggered speculations about the potential launch of an XRP ETF. Speculations suggest that the launch of an XRP price index on CME could lead to the listing of a CFTC-regulated XRP futures product on the global derivatives marketplace- one of the requirements for a spot ETF. 

Last month, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart suggested that for a crypto asset to get the SEC’s blessings for a spot ETF, it must have a futures product regulated by the CFTC. 

In the meantime, CME has not revealed plans to list any XRP futures product. It emphasized that the new XRP benchmark is not a tradable futures product.