Spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to the payments-focused XRP (XRP) and the top meme token, dogecoin (DOGE), debuted in the U.S. on Thursday with a bang, drawing significant trading volume. The REX-Osprey XRP ETF, listed on the CBOE under the ticker XRPR, registered a trading volume of $37.7 million, marking the largest debut volume of any ETF launch this year, according to data shared by Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. This first-day tally outpaced the previous record holder, Dan Ives’ Wedbush AI Revolution ETF (IVES), signaling strong investor appetite for alternative investment vehicles linked to coins beyond Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). XRP’s market capitalization recently surpassed that of traditional banking giant Citigroup. Furthermore, Ripple, the company behind XRP, which facilitates cross-border transactions, has applied for a banking license in the U.S. Traders also embraced the REX-Osprey Dogecoin ETF, ticker DOJE, which generated a first-day volume of $17 million. This placed DOJE among the top five ETF debuts of the year. DOJE’s strong performance is notable given Dogecoin’s reputation as a non-serious meme token. The successful launch of these two ETFs follows the SEC’s decision to approve a new, streamlined listing standard for crypto ETFs, reducing approval times to approximately 75 days from 240 days. First-day net inflow figures are expected to be released later Friday.
