Teucrium CEO Calls XRP Holders an "Army", Stays Bullish on Ripple

Teucrium's rollout of what it describes as the first XRP ETF in the U.S. has sparked a rapid wave of inflows. The fund attracted $500 million in its first 12 weeks, an eye-catching result for an ETF—especially for a crypto-linked derivative that does not hold physical XRP. "The XRP community is an army," said Sal Gilbertie, Teucrium's founder and CEO. "They're willing to go to battle. They really are." Spot XRP ETFs are also reshaping investor behaviour, Gilbertie said. In his view, long-term holders have largely shifted toward spot products, effectively parking their XRP and waiting, while the leveraged ETF has become the preferred vehicle for short-term trading. "The buy-and-holders have migrated towards spot XRP ETFs, rightfully so," he said. "The levered product users are very aggressive, mostly day traders." Teucrium has an inverse XRP ETF idea on the shelf, but Gilbertie said there is no urgency to bring it to market. "Right now everybody's bullish. We'll give investors what they want and need." On the fundamentals, Gilbertie said his optimism centers on Ripple's focus. He pointed to the firm's decade-plus push to make cross-border payments faster and cheaper, and contrasted the XRP Ledger's 3-to-5-second settlement times with the traditional finance T+1 framework. "We need instantaneous settlements. That's going to be needed in the modern economy. It is needed right now." He also highlighted Ripple's acquisition pace and licensing efforts as signs it is building a broader, integrated financial ecosystem beyond a single token. "I like their work ethic. I like the fact that they stay the course." Gilbertie is also tracking the CLARITY Act, legislation that could formally define crypto assets and reduce long-standing regulatory uncertainty. On the likelihood of passage, he struck a pragmatic tone: "Neither side being happy means there probably is a deal. That's the mark of a really good deal on a complicated subject."