XRP's ¥30,000,000,000 Spotlight by SBI Chief, What's Behind It?

XRP is currently in the spotlight as Canary prepares to launch the first pure-play 33 Act ETF comprised exclusively of XRP.

As XRP gains attention, Japanese firm SBI's chairman Yoshitaka Kitao spotlighted its 30 billion yen bet in the cryptocurrency.

In a recent tweet, Kitao put in the spotlight the company's recent investment in XRP treasury company Evernorth. The investment comes in at $200 million, or 30 billion yen, and gives Evernorth nearly 20% of its shares.

In October, Ripple-backed public vehicle Evernorth announced a SPAC deal with Armada Acquisition Corp II to raise $1 billion, including $200 million from SBI, with investments from Ripple, Rippleworks, Pantera, Kraken, GSR and Ripple Chair Chris Larsen. The deal created the largest public XRP treasury; the company would buy XRP on the open market and pursue yield strategies.

SBI remains an XRP backer, with a unit of the company, SBI Ripple Asia, formed in collaboration with Ripple.

XRP ETF set to go live

The first pure-play 33 Act ETF made up entirely of XRP is set to go live in the U.S. Nasdaq has certified Canary Capital's spot XRP ETF, which will launch at the U.S. market open on Thursday.

As of 5:30 p.m. ET on Nov. 12, Canary Capital’s spot XRP ETF with ticker XRPC became officially effective after Nasdaq certified the listing, allowing the product to be launched at Thursday's U.S. market open. The approval finalizes the first U.S. exchange-listed XRP fund and represents one of the fastest through the SEC’s 8(a) automatic-effectiveness process.

The XRP price increased early Thursday as much as 5%, rising from $2.38 to $2.52, with trading volume increasing by 44% to $5.9 billion as traders positioned for the ETF launch. The ETF's launch is expected to drive significant institutional flows, mirroring the acceptance seen with previous spot-crypto ETPs.