HashKey Capital Launches Asia's First XRP Tracker Fund

HashKey Capital, a prominent crypto investment firm based in Hong Kong, has launched the HashKey XRP Tracker Fund, marking a significant milestone as the first of its kind in Asia. This innovative fund is designed to track the performance of XRP, the digital asset developed by Ripple. The launch, announced on April 18, signifies a major step towards the institutional adoption of XRP and is expected to facilitate more regulated exposure to digital assets in the region. Ripple, the developer behind XRP, will serve as the fund’s anchor investor, underscoring the strategic partnership between the two firms.

The HashKey XRP Tracker Fund aims to eventually transition into an exchange-traded fund (ETF), similar to HashKey’s previous product rollouts for Bitcoin and Ethereum. This third tracker fund by HashKey Capital is poised to serve as a gateway for institutional capital to flow into regulated XRP-related financial products. The announcement also highlights the beginning of a deeper strategic partnership between Ripple and HashKey Capital, with plans to explore new investment products, cross-border decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions, and tokenization opportunities. One of the potential developments discussed includes the launch of a money market fund (MMF) directly on the XRP Ledger.

Vivien Wong, a partner at HashKey Capital, emphasized the firm’s strong relationships with regulators, financial institutions, and investors across Asia. She believes that Ripple presents a unique opportunity in co-developing innovative financial products focused on enterprise blockchain adoption and cross-border payments. The launch of the HashKey XRP Tracker Fund has garnered positive reactions from the crypto industry, with Hank Huang, CEO of Kronos Research, describing it as a major milestone for institutional adoption in Asia. Huang highlighted the importance of products that offer regulatory clarity and transparency in attracting institutional capital, noting XRP’s established role in cross-border payments as a catalyst for broader acceptance of crypto assets.

Ripple’s recent acquisition of prime brokerage firm Hidden Road has already yielded significant benefits. The firm secured a broker-dealer license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), enhancing its capacity in fixed-income markets and enabling it to offer institutional clients compliant clearing and financing services across a broader range of traditional financial instruments. This regulatory milestone strengthens Hidden Road’s position in the financial ecosystem and increases its credibility among investment banks. The acquisition, finalized on April 8, is expected to allow Ripple to scale significantly and become the largest non-bank prime broker in the world.

Ripple’s chief technology officer, David Schwartz, described the acquisition as a pivotal development for the XRP Ledger, expanding its use cases beyond just crypto and into traditional financial markets. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse agrees with this assessment, stating that Hidden Road’s integration will allow it to scale significantly and become the largest non-bank prime broker in the world. This move comes during a wave of regulatory momentum favoring Ripple’s growth trajectory. In January, the company received money transmitter licenses in both Texas and New York, giving it the green light to handle capital transfers in key US markets. That progress continued in March when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped its long-standing lawsuit against Ripple, which concluded the legal battle that hovered over the company since 2020. Legal experts saw the dismissal as confirmation that XRP should be treated as a digital commodity rather than a security.

The regulatory environment is becoming increasingly favorable for Ripple, especially after the US Senate’s confirmation of Paul Atkins as the next Chair of the SEC. Once sworn in, Atkins is expected to bring a more crypto-friendly stance to the agency. This positive regulatory climate, along with the launch of the HashKey XRP Tracker Fund, positions Ripple well to benefit from a broader altcoin resurgence predicted for the second quarter of 2025. According to Swiss bank Sygnum, improved regulatory clarity across the digital asset landscape is a key catalyst for this resurgence. Despite these advancements, the market has yet to price in these positive developments, and Sygnum expects this trend to reverse as adoption of other crypto protocols grows.