By George Glover

XRP was among the cryptocurrencies rising on Friday. A mishmash of headlines is fueling the gains.

XRP, which is used to facilitate and settle transactions on Ripple Labs' digital-payments platform, climbed 9.1% to just under $2.73 in Friday trading.

The token surged after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election in November on the expectation that his administration would ease legal pressure on Ripple. But like other cryptos, it had slid over the past month on worries about Trump's tariffs driving up inflation.

That all changed Friday for a few reasons.

Crypto watchers were excited about a move by the Securities and Exchange Commission made on Thursday. The SEC said in a filing that it was acknowledging an application by the New York Stock Exchange on behalf of crypto asset manager Grayscale to list and trade an XRP exchange-traded fund that would track the token's price. The SEC's acknowledgment doesn't amount to approval; the agency is seeking comment on the proposal and will make a decision later this year. The financial regulator approved the listing of ETFs tracking Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two tokens with larger market capitalizations than XRP, last year.

Crypto exchange Coinbase Global could also have been giving the tokens a boost given that the earnings it reported Thursday were more than double what analysts had expected. Earnings were lifted by the pro-crypto Trump administration, according to Coinbase Chief Financial Office Alesia Haas. "We've really hit the dawn of a new era for crypto in light of the shift in administration."

GameStop, the videogame retailer that gained fame as a meme stock in 2020, could also be giving cryptos a boost. It is considering investing in Bitcoin and other cryptos, according to a CNBC report that cited people familiar with the matter.

Stocks were also higher, with the S&P 500 nearing a new high.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

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February 14, 2025 11:41 ET (16:41 GMT)

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