Tim McCourt, senior managing director at CME, said that the first major step has been taken for the launch of the XRP ETF. The CME has XRP reference rate and real-time index, which is the first step in building this ecosystem with more than 50 real-time prices and reference rates. This is crucial for product providers like Bitwise, as they can at least point to a fully regulated benchmark. A week ago, the Securities Exchange Commission received an application for an XRP ETF from Canary Capital, the second provider to apply for an XRP ETF after Bitwise Asset Management.