As the price of Bitcoin surpassed an all-time high of $120,000, attention is turning to the next contenders to continue the upward trend. XRP and Solana are the most notable virtual assets. These two virtual assets rank 3rd and 6th by market capitalization, respectively, and the market prediction platform Polymarket estimates the approval possibility for the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for XRP and Solana at over 90%.
According to CoinMarketCap, a global virtual asset market tracking site, as of 1:30 p.m. on the 14th, the price of XRP was $2.93, up 29.41% from a week ago. The price of XRP did not exceed $1 last November, but after skyrocketing to $3.24 in January, it fell again. However, if XRP rises by 14.6%, it will surpass the historical high of $3.36 from August 2018.
The upward trend of XRP is attributed to the news that the futures ETF for XRP, applied by ProShares, a U.S. asset management firm, will officially launch on the 18th, along with Bitcoin's record high. Although the XRP futures ETF is already listed, the expectations have increased as a large asset management firm has entered the market. The XRPI, which closely follows the price of XRP, saw a net inflow of $8.28 million from the 1st to the 10th of this month.
Expectations are also growing regarding the possibility of listing the XRP spot ETF. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been reviewing the XRP spot ETF applications submitted by major asset management firms, including Grayscale, since February. In particular, the SEC announced new guidelines on the 7th, planning to reduce the review period for exchange-traded products linked to virtual assets from 240 days to 75 days. The virtual asset industry analyzes that the SEC's actions are aimed at approving altcoin ETFs, including XRP (virtual assets excluding Bitcoin). Bloomberg estimated the approval timing for the XRP spot ETF to be around October to November, projecting a 65% approval probability. However, Polymarket predicted it to be 98%.
In particular, the lawsuit that Ripple, the issuer of XRP, has been conducting with the SEC for five years is likely to conclude in a settlement, leading to a more positive outlook for XRP. Geoff Kendrick, the head of research for the institutional sector at Standard Chartered, forecasted this year's target price for XRP to be $5.50 and predicted it would reach $12.50 by 2028.
Solana is in a similar situation to XRP. As of 2 p.m. that day, the price of Solana was $167.40, having risen 10.21% over the week. The price of Solana recorded an all-time high of $256.50 last November but soon plummeted. However, like XRP, it is regaining attention due to expectations for the listing of a spot ETF following the potential re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Currently, six asset management firms, including VanEck, have completed applications for Solana spot ETFs since March. VanEck predicted that the price of Solana would soar to $520 by the end of this year. JPMorgan estimated that if a Solana spot ETF is listed, $3 billion to $6 billion would flow in during the first year, while Bloomberg predicted a 90% likelihood of Solana ETF approval this year.
XRP was launched in 2012 with the goals of inter-country payments and asset tokenization. Transactions are completed within 3 to 5 seconds, faster than other virtual assets, and the transaction fees are designed to be less than 1 cent. Solana was launched as an alternative to Ethereum. As the number of users on the Ethereum network increased, data processing and transaction speeds slowed, and costs rose, Solana was created to address Ethereum's scalability issues. Particularly, unlike most virtual assets, Solana gained popularity because users can earn interest by staking it.