Coinbase maintenance overlap with SEC XRP ETF decision window fuels speculation

A curious overlap between Coinbase’s scheduled maintenance and the SEC’s expected decision on spot XRP ETFs has fueled widespread speculation. Market analyst ChartNerd noted that both are set for October 25, which raises speculation about deeper market coordination.

Coinbase announced that a system maintenance will start at 7:00 AM PT for 4 hours starting October 25. During the outage, no trading, transfers, staking, or credit card transactions are allowed. While users will still be able to view their accounts, most functionalities will be suspended.

The platform has also verified that futures and derivatives trading will be offline from 4:00 AM to 1:00 PM PT because of overlapping maintenance schedules. The prolonged downtime has raised eyebrows due to the timing of the highly anticipated XRP ETF decisions.

ChartNerd argues that maybe the timing is not random. They cite the timing of Coinbase’s maintenance window, in addition to the SEC’s ETF review deadlines, as an indication of potential back-end preparations correlated with potential upcoming XRP ETF activity. Coinbase, one of the largest US exchanges to relist XRP following the Ripple lawsuit, would be a key player in trading should the ETFs be approved.

SEC review faces uncertainty amid shutdown

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will review various spot XRP ETF filings in the period of October 18-25. These are 21Shares, Canary Capital, CoinShares, Grayscale, and WisdomTree applications. The timeline has, however, been affected by the pending government shutdown, which has halted the operations of the SEC temporarily.

The original deadlines in October might not be applicable anymore; analysts in the industry, like Eleanor Terret, reported that the SEC asked issuers to remove their 19b-4 forms. Although delayed, some of the large issuers have already filed amended S-1 filings, which are frequently a precursor to approval.

New filings such as GXRP by Grayscale, XRPZ by Franklin Templeton, and XRPC by Canary Capital each indicate that they are preparing to launch when the SEC starts operating fully again.

Nate Geraci, president of Novadius Wealth Management and co-founder of ETF Institute, said on X that the crypto ETF floodgates will probably open as soon as the government shutdown is resolved. 

XRP ETF approval could trigger massive price rally 

The potential approval of the spot XRP ETF would be a milestone for the token. The introduction of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs triggered major institutional flows and brought confidence in the market.

Such would be the case if XRP ETFs receive SEC approval, analysts reckon, and some predict the token to soar to over $5 or even higher. XRP is currently trading at approximately $2.47, representing a decline of about 17% over the last week. 

With approval, XRP ETFs will provide institutional investors with a controlled channel, enhancing their liquidity and market maturity. 

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