XRP Soars, Beating Bitcoin. Here's Why and What Else Is Driving Cryptos Today.

By Elsa OhlenCrypto prices rose to start the week, but one digital asset stood out early Monday. XRP gained ground, supported by three new exchange-traded funds that will offer more ways to make money on the token.XRP, the cryptocurrency used to facilitate transactions on Ripple's payment platform, is up 6.2% over the past 24 hours at $2.32, according to CoinDesk data. Meanwhile, Bitcoin traded modestly up at $95,268 and Ether and Solana edged up to $1,817 and $151.7, respectively.ProShares Trust, an exchange-traded funds issuer, filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in January for three leveraged funds that will track the price of the XRP token through futures. The funds — Ultra XRP ETF, Short XRP ETF, and Ultra Short XRP ETF — won't involve direct ownership of the asset.The SEC hasn't raised any objections, which allows ProShares to move ahead with the ETFs.The news comes following the resolution of a legal battle between Ripple and the regulator. In 2020, the SEC charged Ripple with selling an unregistered security. In March this year, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the SEC had dropped the case against the company, calling it "a resounding victory for Ripple, for crypto."CME Group, a derivatives marketplace, announced last week it will start trading XRP futures on May 19. Its crypto suite already includes Bitcoin and Ether futures and options, as well as recently launched Solana futures."This is an incredibly important and exciting step in the continued growth of the XRP market," Garlinghouse wrote in a post on the social media platform X."XRP was purpose-built for real financial use cases and today facilitates global value transfers through the fast, low-cost XRP Ledger, " said Sal Gilbertie, CEO of Teucrium, another ETF issuer that launched an XRP ETF earlier this month.The Teucrium 2x Daily Long XRP ETF's first two weeks of trading highlighted strong investor demand for regulated access to digital assets, Gilbertie said last week.Crypto firms Coinbase and Bitnomial have also begun selling XRP futures recently.Cryptocurrencies are typically affected by macroeconomic factors, such as interest rates and trade policy, both in the spotlight lately. In times of economic uncertainty or instability, the price of risker assets such as cryptos typically drop while haven assets such as gold gain. That means signs of de-escalating trade tensions could boost crypto prices.Ned Davis Research analysts also noted that Bitcoin tends to perform better when the U.S. government deficit is expanding. They predict that the new budget reconciliation bill should add to the growing deficit, with the debt ceiling raised by $5 trillion, which could also boost the digital coin.At the moment, the sentiment in the market is neutral, FxPro market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said Monday, noting the crypto market capitalization has been hovering just under $3 trillion since the end of last week."It seems that players prefer to move upwards with relatively long stops, " Kuptsikevich said early Monday.Write to Elsa Ohlen at [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.