The approval of the first spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds applications have triggered widespread excitement in the crypto town. This development is coming barely three months after the regulator also gave its approval to Bitcoin ETF filings.
Insights into SEC’s stance on Crypto ETFs
Over the past ten years, the SEC rejected crypto ETFs, saying it could enhance market manipulation and jeopardize investors’ financial security. This stance triggered fierce legal battles between the regulator and several institutional stakeholders in the crypto community.
However, the matter began to take a new dimension after the SEC lost the legal challenge last year. With this development, it was left with no other option than to finally give its approval to all the Bitcoin ETF applications. However, it insisted that its approval does not mean it supports crypto and warned investors to do due diligence.
Considered as one of the biggest milestones among the crypto community, the approval of both Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs positions the industry for global attention, paving way for traditional investors to also dive into the industry. That said, some of the ETH ETF 19b-forms approved belong to Grayscale, Blackrock, Fidelity, Bitwise, amongst others.
While many expected the SEC to reject the filings by these firms, it asked them to quickly fine-tune their 19b forms. This simply paves the way for the ETH ETF products to begin trading later this year, opening up the second-most held crypto asset for mainstream adoption.
Will there be SOL ETF filings soon?
The approval of Ether spot exchange-traded funds has raised huge optimism in the cryptocurrency community. Without a doubt, the approval of the Ether ETF is an indication that both institutional investors and regulators are increasingly embracing cryptocurrencies. Hence, there is growing confidence that other Altcoins like SOL and XRP could get their own ETFs.
One of the factors that will hasten SOL to get its ETF is the call from U.S. legislators to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, urging the agency to always be consistent when exercising its oversight functions. Recall that before the approval of the Ether ETF, a league of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers, like the Financial Committee Vice Chairman Rep. French Hill and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, called on the SEC to be more consistent when discharging its duties.
The lawmakers stated that if the agency approved the BTC spot ETF, it should also consider approving Ether ETFs. This call led to the rapid approval of the Ether ETF. With that, the position of the legislators can be as well extended to other cryptocurrencies including SOL. Meanwhile, SOL is leading the race of the next cryptocurrency to get its ETF due to numerous factors.
To a noticeable extent, SOL is one of the most demanded cryptocurrencies as the altcoin is presently ranked the fifth-largest crypto with a large market capitalization worth $76.31 billion. Due to its high demand, SOL is the next and more likely cryptocurrency to get its ETF.
Supporting this assertion is Bloomberg’s analyst, James Seyfatt who speculated that the high demand for SOL ETFs is much higher than other altcoins. With these pointers, there is a promising indication that SOL could be the next cryptocurrency to get its ETF.
Conclusion
SOL is closer to getting an ETF soon than other altcoins, nevertheless, there are also other cryptocurrencies in the race. However, getting an ETF may not come easy for SOL as the SEC once classified the token as a security which may be a great hindrance to its ETF approval.
The SEC chair, Gary Gensler in an interview before the approval of the Ether ETF, stated that any cryptocurrency aside from BTC is a security. On the flip side, this stance might have changed considering how the regulator recently approved applications for Ether ETH. Aside from SOL, other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, Dogecoin, XRP, and many others are also in contention for an ETF.