Regulators cleared a Texas exchange rule that folds the fourth-largest non-stablecoin asset into the same commodity-trust framework used by three larger tokens, and a Canadian derivatives market keeps selling contracts on it to American desks. The filing permits active portfolio management and a 15% allowance for holdings that miss eligibility tests, yet it stops short of a statutory commodity designation — Congress still holds that pen.
A Nasdaq Texas listing standard now treats XRP as an eligible commodity for crypto trust products, putting the token in the same rulebook as Bitcoin, Ether and Solana, while options on a Montreal-listed XRP ETF stay cleared for sale to U.S. buyers.
Order 34-106268, dated September 3 and published in the Federal Register on September 9, grants accelerated approval to a proposal Nasdaq Texas filed on August 20 amending Rule 5711(d), the exchange's generic listing standards for Commodity-Based Trust Shares. XRP appears in the order as one of four assets in a worked example of a new 15% net asset value buffer, not as the subject of a legal finding.
"The order does not create a new law or declare XRP, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana commodities under federal statute," the SEC wrote in the filing. "It changes the requirements a fund must meet to list a commodity-based trust on one specific exchange."
The distinction matters because all four tokens already cleared the exchange's existing eligible-commodity test before the order existed. That test requires an asset to underlie a futures contract that has traded on an Intermarket Surveillance Group venue for at least six months and to have an ETF providing at least 40% economic exposure. The SEC used the four coins to illustrate arithmetic — a hypothetical trust holding $95 million in market value across BTC, ETH, SOL and XRP — rather than to announce a new classification.
Two mechanical edits do the work. The first lets a listed commodity trust hold up to 15% of NAV in assets that fail the eligible-commodity test, up from a prior standard that required nearly all holdings to qualify. The SEC noted the threshold matches what it already approved for diversified crypto funds including Grayscale's Digital Large Cap Fund.
The second removes the passive-management requirement. Rule 5711(d) previously forced listed commodity trusts to track a fixed, publicly disclosed formula — the structure governing most existing spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. The amended rule permits active strategies, letting a manager shift weightings between Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP and smaller tokens over time instead of locking a static formula at launch.
Combined, the two changes give asset managers a clearer path to build multi-asset crypto trusts on Nasdaq Texas that rebalance. The SEC approved materially identical rule changes for Nasdaq, NYSE Arca and Cboe in July, so the Texas order extends a framework three venues already operate under rather than opening a new one.
The cross-border leg of the story runs through Montreal. Options on the Canadian-listed XRP ETF stay cleared for U.S. sale, giving U.S. desks a derivatives route into XRP exposure that does not depend on a U.S.-listed spot XRP ETF existing. That channel is what separates XRP's current position from a pure listing-rule footnote: U.S. institutions can already express a directional XRP view through cleared contracts, even as the domestic spot product pipeline remains a separate approval question.
Confusion between two documents is driving much of the market read-through. A joint SEC and CFTC interpretation issued in March named Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and XRP as crypto commodities alongside Cardano, Avalanche, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and Chainlink. That interpretation and the September listing-rule order come from different processes and carry different weight.
Neither is a statute. The "digital commodity" label rests on agency interpretation, which means a change in administration or a court ruling can reverse it. The CLARITY Act, the bill that would settle the question in federal law, remains pending in the Senate, with a review expected September 15. Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse has pressed Congress to finish crypto legislation, but the House canceled its September votes, likely pushing final passage into a post-election lame-duck session.
For XRP holders, the practical consequence is narrower than the headlines suggest and more durable than a single order. The token now qualifies as an example asset inside a federal listing standard that four exchanges apply, and its Canadian ETF options clear for U.S. customers. What has not changed is the legal foundation underneath either fact — and that foundation is still a bill, not a rule.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
