- The SEC’s first deadline to approve four Solana ETFs is coming up fast.
- However, experts say key issues may block their approval.
Solana bulls hope the Securities and Exchange Commission will green-light several Solana exchange-traded fund applications on January 25.
However, there’s little chance that the market watchdog will approve asset managers VanEck, 21Shares, Canary, and Bitwise’s applications by the deadline, according to experts who spoke with DL News.
“We expect the SEC to delay its approval of the Solana ETF to the second deadline,” Edouard Hindi, Chief Investment Officer at Tyr Capital, told DL News.
The second deadline for the SEC to approve or reject the Solana ETFs is set for March 11.
Hindi’s comments come as many hoped the election of former president Donald Trump, and his nomination of Paul Atkins to take over from crypto-critical SEC Chair Gary Gensler, would usher in a period of looser regulation.
“Paul Atkins will need time to settle in before drastically redirecting Gensler’s previous digital assets strategy,” Hindi said.
Katalin Tischhauser, Head of Investment Research at crypto bank Sygnum, agreed that it’s unlikely that Solana will become the third crypto asset to get a US spot-based ETF — behind Bitcoin and Ethereum — at the end of this month.
“A whole process needs to take place where the SEC assesses the market in the underlying asset and this process has not even started,” she told DL News.
Lowering the bar
Previous crypto ETFs have been subject to some strict requirements before their approval.
Under Gensler’s oversight, the SEC argued that no spot crypto ETFs could be listed on US exchanges until there was a highly correlated, regulated futures market for the corresponding asset.
Both the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs had futures markets on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange before the approval of their ETFs. Solana, however, does not have a regulated, US-based futures market.
But this rule could change once Atkins takes the reins.
“Over the coming few months we do believe that the bar for accepting new crypto ETFs will be lowered and think 2025 will see both a SOL and XRP ETF approved,” Hindi said.
In addition to Solana, Bitwise, Canary and 21Shares have all also filed for XRP ETFs.
In December, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart predicted that 2025 would usher in “a wave of cryptocurrency ETFs.”
Crypto market movers
- Bitcoin is up 1.7% over the past 24 hours to trade at $93,514.
- Ethereum is down 0.2% to trade at $3,244.
What we’re reading
- Trump jitters drive Bitcoin below $93,000 — here’s when experts see a price rebound ― DL News
- Bitcoin Slides for 3rd Day, Erasing Year’s Gains ― Unchained
- What the hell happened yesterday? ― Milk Road
- Crypto-Friendly Summer Mersinger Is Now the Top Contender for CFTC Chair ― Unchained
- Who will Trump pick as CFTC chair? Here are the six frontrunners ― DL News
Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.
