The ripple cryptocurrency altcoin sits arranged for a photograph in London on April 25, 2018.
Jack Taylor | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The price of the XRP token jumped Thursday after Grayscale announced the launch of a new trust that gives accredited investors direct exposure to the cryptocurrency.
XRP was last higher by more than 4.81% at 56 cents a coin, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as much as 9%. XRP, which was created by the founders of Ripple, is the native token of the open source XRP Ledger, which Ripple uses in its cross-border payments business. It is the fifth-largest coin by market cap, excluding stablecoins Tether (USDT) and USDC.
Unlike an exchange-traded fund, the trust will primarily trade over the counter. Trusts are also more susceptible to trading at a price that does not line up with the underlying value of the portfolio.
“As crypto investors diversify beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, we believe in providing exposure to protocols that solve real-world problems,” Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Grayscale’s head of product and research, said in a statement shared with CNBC. “XRP can reduce frictions in international payments, enabling more efficiency in an evolving global economy.”
Ripple, the largest holder of XRP coins, scored a partial victory last summer after a three-year battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP is not considered a security when sold to retail investors on exchanges, but it is considered an unregistered security offering if sold to institutional investors. This was hailed as a landmark win for the crypto industry.
Grayscale also made history shortly after when a court ruled that the SEC was wrong to deny the crypto investment giant permission to convert its popular bitcoin trust into an ETF. The agency approved the necessary rule change in January. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and the Grayscale Ethereum Trust began trading in January and July of this year, respectively, as ETFs.
Major cryptocurrencies were flat on Thursday. Bitcoin was last trading at $58,382.10 and ether at $2,360. MicroStrategy added more than 1%. Coinbase rose 3%.
— CNBC’s Jesse Pound contributed reporting.
