The XRP ecosystem is living two very different lives right now. On one side, the XRP Ledger is on the cusp of a structural transformation that could redefine its purpose. On the other, Wall Street’s appetite for leveraged XRP products is being tested by a regulator that keeps moving the goalposts.
The Protocol Vote That Could Change Everything
Validators on the XRP Ledger are currently weighing two proposals that would introduce native credit markets directly into the network’s consensus layer. The first, XLS-65, creates Single Asset Vaults — pools that hold only one type of collateral, such as XRP or RLUSD. The second, XLS-66, builds on that foundation to enable uncollateralized fixed-term loans from pooled funds.
This is not your typical DeFi setup. Instead of running as smart contracts on a virtual machine, the lending protocol is baked directly into the ledger’s architecture. Creditworthiness is determined off-chain through underwriting and risk management, not by an on-chain algorithm. If a loan defaults, the damage is contained to that single vault position.
Both proposals need more than 80% approval over a two-week period to activate. The co-founder of Squid Router has tested XLS-65 and XLS-66 on the Devnet without encountering issues, and his validator has voted in favor.
Alongside the vote, a security audit competition is running until April 27, 2026, covering batch transactions, permission delegation, and confidential transfers. Developers describe this as a deliberate hardening phase before new features go live.
The Rating Agency Breakthrough
While the protocol vote unfolds, Ripple’s institutional arm has achieved something unusual. The Kroll Bond Rating Agency has assigned Ripple Prime a BBB issuer rating — investment grade, albeit at the lowest tier. Ripple Prime is an SEC-registered broker-dealer, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, and a clearing member of the CME Group.
What makes this rating notable is that KBRA explicitly factored in Ripple’s holdings of more than 40 billion XRP units. Rating agencies typically count cash and liquid securities. That token holdings are now considered material to financial strength is a first for the space.
On-chain data shows that large holders have been accumulating since the start of the year. Spot XRP ETFs in the US have recorded net inflows of roughly $83 million over three consecutive weeks, pushing assets under management to $1.1 billion.
The Leveraged ETF Saga Continues
GraniteShares has delayed its 3x Long and 3x Short XRP Daily ETFs for the fifth time, pushing the launch date to May 7. The firm used SEC Rule 485, which allows issuers to postpone the effective date without restarting the entire review process. The original target was April 2.
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Both funds rely on derivatives and swap contracts rather than physical XRP, tracking 300% of daily price moves in either direction and settling entirely in cash.
The deeper issue traces back to December 2025, when the SEC formally flagged ProShares, Direxion, and Tidal Financial under Rule 18f-4, which caps fund leverage at 200%. ProShares subsequently withdrew its entire lineup of 3x crypto products, including an XRP fund nearly identical to GraniteShares’ offering.
All eight of GraniteShares’ leveraged funds — three long and three short for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP — were pushed back simultaneously to May 7. This suggests the SEC has structural concerns with the 3x format itself, not with any particular asset.
Market Demand vs. Regulatory Reality
The appetite for regulated XRP products is clear. Spot XRP ETFs have seen cumulative inflows exceeding $1.24 billion since November 2025, with no outflows recorded since April 9 — an unusually long buying streak for this market.
Teucrium proved the concept works at lower leverage. Its 2x Long Daily XRP ETF raised over $100 million in its first weeks after launching in April 2025. GraniteShares aims to replicate that success at triple leverage — if the SEC allows it.
If the May 7 deadline slips, the window for 2026 may close entirely.
Where XRP Stands
XRP is currently trading at $1.44, roughly 60% below its July 2025 high of $3.56 and about 23% below its level at the start of the year. The price action tells only part of the story. The real action is happening on two fronts: a protocol vote that could give the XRP Ledger its first native lending capabilities, and a regulatory standoff that will determine whether leveraged ETFs ever reach the market.
The May 7 date now looms large on both dimensions — a regulatory deadline for GraniteShares and a potential inflection point for the XRP Ledger’s evolution beyond a payments network.
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