Grayscale Investments Begins Dissolution of XRP Trust Citing Ripple SEC Suit

Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager, announced it has begun dissolution of its Grayscale XRP Trust following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs alleging the XRP token is a security under federal securities law.

• Cash proceeds from the trust’s liquidated XRP will be distributed to shareholders, Grayscale said, without providing estimates on the proceeds.
• Jan. 8. SEC filings indicate the XRP trust raised $19.2 million from 70 investors over its nearly three-year run. It was not clear how much the fund was worth at liquidation.
• Grayscale blamed the move on the SEC's December 2020 suit against XRP's issuer, Ripple Labs which has banked $1.3 billion in token sales since 2013. That suit has created a hostile market environment for XRP.
• "It is likely to be increasingly difficult for U.S. investors, including the Trust, to convert XRP into U.S. dollars, and therefore continue the Trust’s operations," Grayscale said.
• Earlier January, Grayscale removed XRP from its large-cap crypto fund.