Brazil approves first spot XRP ETF as local bank eyes stablecoin on XRPL

The BBRL stablecoin will initially only be offered to institutional clients, but the bank has great plans to expand. 

Brazil’s securities regulator has approved the country’s first spot XRP exchange-traded fund, just as the asset has risen 8% in the last 24 hours.

The Comissão de Valores Mobiliários, Brazil’s securities regulator, approved the Hashdex Nasdaq XRP Index Fund for trading on February 19. 

The official date for trading on Brazil’s B3 exchange has yet to be declared. Hashdex, the fund manager, promised to offer additional information soon.

Hashdex provides many crypto ETFs in Brazil, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and funds for DeFi, Web3, and the metaverse.  

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has acknowledged several XRP ETF registrations from Nasdaq and Cboe BZX exchanges on behalf of CoinShares, Canary Capital, and WisdomTree, totalling $2.68.

XRP prices increased by 7.8% on the day, reaching $2.72 at the time of writing. The cross-border coin is currently only 20% from its all-time high. 

Brazilian bank to launch stablecoin on XRPL

Meanwhile, Braza Group, a player in Brazil’s interbank market, is releasing XRP Ledger, a new stablecoin based on Ripple’s blockchain and tied to the Brazilian real.

“We are committed to offering a stablecoin that not only meets, but exceeds, the highest security and compliance standards,” stated Marcelo Sacomori, CEO of Braza Group, in a February 19 statement. 

Braza Bank, which specialised in foreign exchange and international payments, will back the real-pegged stablecoin BBRL. The bank does not rank among the top ten in Brazil in terms of assets or deposits, but it claims to be the country’s largest exchange bank.  

“Launching a stablecoin like BBRL on the XRP Ledger creates significant opportunities for the Brazilian market while also laying the groundwork for broader adoption across South America and beyond,” said Markus Infanger, senior vice president of RippleX.  

Brazil’s self-custodial stablecoin prohibition will promote decentralization.

The stablecoin will be launched in the first quarter of 2025, initially just for institutional clients, before expanding to business-to-consumer customers. “By the end of next year, we expect BBRL to capture about 30% of the market in Brazil,” he said.  

Braza Group is also involved in DREX, a Brazilian central bank blockchain program that investigates asset tokenization, cross-border payments, and the possibility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).  

Earlier this month, Brazil’s central bank director, Gabriel Galipolo, stated that crypto asset usage in the country has increased in recent years, with stablecoins accounting for almost 90% of the total flow.

He also stated that DREX is not fundamentally a CBDC, but rather an infrastructure designed to improve credit through collateralized assets.

*Crypto-asset investments are high-risk; you may lose your capital.