An XRP ETF dubbed XRPH11 began trading in Brazil today, making it the first such product in the world. The ETF, issued by Hashdex, is being traded on Brazil’s B3 stock exchange.
Brazil also made history by approving the first Solana ETF last year. XRPH11’s trading volume isn’t public knowledge yet, but it could pave the way for such approvals in the US market.
Today, Hashdex’s efforts are bearing fruit, as B3 announced earlier.
“XRPH11 is part of Hashdex’s line of mono-asset funds, such as the ETFs BITH11, ETHE11 and SOLH11. The focus of these ETFs is sophisticated investors, such as institutional investors who want to build crypto portfolios on B3,” Samir Kerbage, CIO of Hashdex, said in a statement to local media.
XRPH11 will invest at least 95% of its assets in XRP, although it will consist of direct and indirect holdings. So far, it doesn’t seem like any trading data from its first day is publicly available, but Hashdex’s site confirms that XRPH11 is live already.
If Brazil’s new ETF lands with a thud for XRP as it did for Solana, this might spell further bearishness.
Either way, XRPH11’s trading performance will contain several useful information. The US ETF market could soon face a flood of altcoin products, and these may not stand a chance of capturing Bitcoin’s market dominance.
As of now, Polymarket shows a 74% chance of an XRP ETF approval in the US by the end of this year.
Raydium launched its LaunchLab on April 17, 2025. Within five days, Raydium LaunchLab generated 3,787 tokens, achieving a “graduated rate” of 1.14%.
This article analyzes Raydium LaunchLab’s performance, compares it with competitors, and provides a comprehensive overview of the ongoing meme coin launchpad war.
According to Dune data, Raydium LaunchLab created 3,787 tokens in its first week, achieving a “graduation rate” of 1.14%. This rate is based on the number of tokens reaching a threshold of 85 SOL (approximately $11,150) to transition to trading on Raydium’s Automated Market Maker (AMM).
While these figures reflect a promising debut, Raydium LaunchLab still trails behind Pump.fun. The pioneering Solana-based platform, Pump.fun, boasts an average daily graduation rate of 1.13%—slightly lower than LaunchLab’s.
Moreover, Pump.fun has had a longer runway to build its community and refine its processes, and created over 600,000 tokens in January 2025. This shows Pump.fun’s continued dominance, even as Raydium LaunchLab exerts significant competitive pressure.
Meme Coin Launchpad War
Beyond Raydium LaunchLab and Pump.fun, the meme coin launchpad war includes other platforms like SunPump (Tron), Dgen.fun (Aptos), or Auto.fun. However, their performance remains modest.
Per Dune Analytics, SunPump has created only eight tokens today, while Dgen.fun has generated 21. These numbers indicate that neither platform can yet compete with Raydium LaunchLab or Pump.fun’s scale.
Despite backing from Justin Sun and the Tron ecosystem, SunPump struggles to attract users. This may partly stem from Tron’s weaker appeal to the meme coin community than Solana. Similarly, Dgen.fun has yet to make a significant impact, likely due to Aptos being a relatively new blockchain with a smaller community to drive meme coin development.
Key Factors Behind LaunchLab’s Appeal
Raydium LaunchLab boasts several competitive advantages. First, the platform allows free token creation, offering features like customizable bonding curves and no migration fees. Once a token reaches the 85 SOL threshold, it automatically transitions to Raydium’s AMM, ensuring immediate liquidity.
Additionally, Raydium imposes a 1% transaction fee, of which 25% is allocated to buy back RAY tokens—a move designed to boost the value of its native token.
Following the LaunchLab announcement, RAY’s price surged nearly 15%, reaching $2.41 before settling at $2.21. This reflects strong community optimism about LaunchLab’s potential. However, to surpass Pump.fun, Raydium must improve its graduation rate and attract more users, particularly as Pump.fun has built credibility with its simple, transparent mechanism.
The meme coin launchpad war is not solely about the number of tokens created—it’s a battle of technology, community, and sustainability. Pump.fun remains the leader, thanks to its first-mover advantage and massive scale. However, Raydium LaunchLab is emerging as a formidable contender, backed by the Solana ecosystem, renowned for its fast transaction speeds and low costs.
As the competition intensifies, Raydium LaunchLab’s ability to innovate and grow its user base will be critical in challenging Pump.fun’s dominance in the meme coin launchpad arena.
For years, crypto in Africa was synonymous with Bitcoin (BTC). Today, that narrative has flipped, with companies like Yellow Card, a crypto exchange operating in Africa, clearly reflecting this shift.
In an exclusive with BeInCrypto, Yellow Card co-founder and CEO Chris Maurice reveals how it is building a pan-African stablecoin network to leapfrog traditional finance (TradFi). This is amid growing regulatory clarity, collapsing fiat systems, and a remittance revolution.
Stablecoins Are Transforming Africa’s Financial Scene
The pan-African exchange operates in over 20 markets, and Maurice says stablecoins now account for over 99% of its transactions. This makes Yellow Card a bellwether for what might be the most transformative trend in emerging markets finance.
“When we first launched Yellow Card in 2019, people were exclusively buying Bitcoin. Now, the most popular asset is Tether (USDT),” Maurice told BeInCrypto.
As it happened, necessity, not speculation, has driven this evolution. Africa leads the world in peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading volume. However, unlike global crypto hubs chasing volatile returns, Africans are choosing stablecoins out of financial survival.
Local currencies are eroding under inflationary pressure in countries like Nigeria, which ranks second globally in crypto adoption (per Chainalysis). Stablecoins offer a reliable store of value and seamless means of cross-border payments.
This is especially critical in a continent with $48 billion annual remittances and persistent banking limitations.
“Stablecoins are solving practical financial services challenges in Africa. People aren’t in love with the tech. They need faster, cheaper ways to move money to survive and thrive,” Maurice added.
Infrastructure Built for the Unbanked
Yellow Card has gone beyond trading services. Its infrastructure integrates mobile money systems (like M-Pesa in Kenya) and local fiat currencies such as the Nigerian naira and Ghanaian cedi. According to the firm’s CEO, this helps onboard users without bank accounts.
By managing compliance, currency exchange, and payments internally, the firm enables businesses to operate without battling unreliable local rails.
“Our mission is to let companies invest, hire, and grow in emerging markets without needing to stress over infrastructure. We’ve built the back office [meaning] cybersecurity, AML, [and] data protection, so they can focus on growth,” he articulated.
The Regulatory Dam Has Broken
Maurice also observed that African regulators kept crypto in limbo for years. In Yellow Card’s view, 2024 marked a tipping point.
“There is regulatory momentum in Africa that is only accelerating. The dam has broken,” he said.
South Africa now classifies crypto as a financial product. It has licensed major exchanges like Luno and VALR. Countries in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), Mauritius, Botswana, and Namibia have followed suit with licensing regimes.
Meanwhile, regulatory incubators are emerging in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Against this backdrop, Maurice says Yellow Card has actively helped draft legislation in Kenya and supports crypto frameworks in Morocco.
Fighting the Informal Market
Still, challenges remain. In countries like Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Morocco, outright bans have driven users underground into high-risk P2P networks. Yellow Card pushes for frameworks that level the playing field for compliant players.
“We face a lot of competition from companies that don’t maintain high AML standards…A level playing field is all we seek,” he said.
With $85 million in venture funding, Yellow Card is deploying capital into compliance and partnerships. With this, the company positions itself as the go-to infrastructure provider for global firms looking to tap African markets.
From Africa to Emerging Markets Everywhere
Cross-border payments are perhaps Yellow Card’s most powerful use case. The company’s co-founder says its stablecoin-powered rails are helping businesses reduce working capital needs, expand to new regions, and hire faster.
“We’ve had clients tell us we’ve enabled them to scale into new countries and reduce their costs dramatically. That’s real economic impact,” said Maurice.
The company is not stopping at Africa. Its infrastructure extends into other frontier markets, with a wave of strategic partnerships expected in 2025.
“Yellow Card has built a series of easy buttons for developed world companies to expand into complicated, high-growth markets,” he noted.
“Stablecoins are already a standard part of the financial infrastructure in Africa. CFOs and treasurers in traditional industries are now routinely using them to store and transfer value,” he added.
Africa’s crypto market is still small compared to global giants. Nevertheless, as the world shifts from speculation to utility, the continent’s fragmented financial systems may offer a glimpse into crypto’s most impactful use case: economic empowerment. For Yellow Card, the mission is clear and increasingly urgent.
“We’ve built a company for longevity and scale. Crypto adoption in Africa is stablecoin adoption,” Maurice concluded.
The CME is launching futures trading on XRP on May 19, pending regulatory review. It will allow both micro and large contracts, from 2,500 to 50,000 XRP, prioritizing flexibility and precision.
This development could provide several key advantages for the asset. In addition to substantial liquidity, the CME will treat the asset as a commodity like Bitcoin and Ethereum. This could potentially boost the chances of an XRP ETF approval.
CME to Launch XRP Futures
XRP futures are financial contracts that let traders speculate on the future price of XRP without owning the actual XRP coins. It will allow institutional and professional traders to hedge risk or speculate on XRP prices using regulated instruments.
CME’s involvement is significant—it’s the world’s largest derivatives exchange, and adding XRP gives more legitimacy and market depth.
“While overdue in a bunch of ways, this is an incredibly important and exciting step in the continued growth of the XRP market!” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse claimed via social media.
Meanwhile, futures trading in the institutional market could potentially aid the chances of an XRP ETF. Additionally, it potentially opens a huge window of new liquidity for the token. The recognition of CME’s brand will guarantee product quality in the eyes of institutional investors.
Coinbase added XRP futures trading earlier this week after receiving official CFTC approval. The CME is also a CFTC-regulated institution, but it will take a few weeks to offer its own XRP futures.
Still, it began offering Bitcoin and Ethereum futures this year, and this development suggests it’s treating Ripple’s altcoin like a commodity, too.
The announcement acknowledges that it still requires regulatory approval, possibly explaining the long wait. These futures will be cash-settled and based on the CME’s XRP-Dollar reference rate, which is calculated daily.
XRP’s demand hit a five-month low this week, and the CME won’t offer futures for nearly a month. This news is undoubtedly bullish, but it may take some time to materialize fully in the market.
