As the crypto industry dries, Cboe presses for four new XRP ETFs.

On Thursday, Chicago’s Cboe Exchange submitted four individual applications to the Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking approval to list and business area XRP ETFs from WisdomTree, Binary, 21Shares, and Canary.

Big asset managers are now competing to start the first spot XRP ETFs in the United States in the wake of the breakthroughs made by Bitcoin and Ethereum last year, despite the fact that some Wall Streeters have yet to witness “full-throated demand” for crypto ETFs.

And even with the increased attention from issuers, the world’s fourth-largest crypto has continued to fall, down 25 % over the last two weeks after edging close to its all-time high just below$ 3.40 in late January.

It’s a part of a wider crypto collapse this season, which has cooled since a harrowing protest late last season following President Donald Trump’s subsequent term victory.

In any case, Thursday’s filings, alongside others this year, would force XRP into unknown place, as the asset has yet to get the clear regulation status granted to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

All four candidates heavily rely on the limited success of July 2023 in the ongoing SEC v. Ripple Labs circumstance, which seeks to determine whether XRP, a digital resource closely linked to Ripple, should be treated as a safety under Federal law.

According to the papers, CBOE “believes it is making a great belief resolve that XRP is never a security under federal law in these situation.”

The applications come as part of a SEC appeal of the Ripple decision to the Second Circuit, in which the regulator seeks to overturn the classification and decision that held that programmatic XRP sales to retail investors did not constitute investment contracts.

Unlike previous crypto ETF approvals, XRP lacks the established CME futures market, which the SEC had sought when it approved Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Following Cboe’s filings last week for four separate Solana ETFs, which were submitted once more after the SEC expressed concerns last year. Those included concerns centered on market integrity, investor protections, and regulatory uncertainty.

According to the text of WisdomTree’s filing, asset managers are taking protective measures to increase their chances of getting regulatory approval, including purchasing the token from secondary markets rather than directly from Ripple Labs.

The intention behind the decision is to break up the ETF with Ripple Labs, which is still closely linked to XRP but doesn’t officially belong to the proposed fund.

Measures, such as surveillance and market monitoring, custody with licensed third-party custodians, holding XRP in cold storage, and a means to halt intraday trading, meanwhile, aim to shore up concerns previously flagged in the past.

Once the applications are published in the Federal Register, the SEC has 45 days to review them, with potential extensions of up to 90 days.