The odds of a Solana (SOL) exchange-traded fund (ETF) listing in the United States before the end of 2025 are “overwhelmingly high”, Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital asset research, said on Nov. 15.
Sigel expects the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve more proposed cryptocurrency products after crypto-friendly Donald Trump’s Nov. 5 presidential election win.
“We would expect the SEC to approve more crypto products than they have in the past 4 years,” Sigel said in an interview with the Financial Times.
“I think the odds are overwhelmingly high that there will be a Solana ETF trading by the end of next year.”
Source: Nate Geraci
Trump’s presidential win is a green light for more than half a dozen proposed crypto ETFs waiting on regulatory approval to list in the US.
In 2024, asset managers submitted a flurry of regulatory filings to list ETFs holding altcoins, including SOL, XRP XRP, and Litecoin LTC among others.
Issuers are also waiting on approval for several planned crypto index ETFs designed to hold diverse baskets of tokens.
In effect, these filings were “call options on a Trump victory” in the US presidential race, Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said on Oct. 25.
Under President Joe Biden, the SEC has taken an aggressive regulatory stance toward crypto, bringing upward of 100 regulatory actions against industry companies.
Trump “will definitely put in a more libertarian [Securities and Exchange Commission] chair,” Balchunas said.
Top ETF launches in 2024. Source: The ETF Store
Trump has not announced a planned replacement for the SEC’s chair, Gary Gensler. On Nov. 14, former CFTC chair Chris Giancarlo said he would not be stepping into the role.
Trump is reportedly considering tapping Summer Mersinger to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The CFTC plays a crucial role in regulated cryptocurrency markets in the United States, second only to the SEC.
Mersinger is a Republican CFTC commissioner who has urged the regulator to take a more accommodating stance on crypto.
On Nov. 4, the SEC started reviewing Grayscale’s request to list the first ETF to hold a diverse basket of cryptocurrencies, including several altcoins.
On Nov. 8, United States regulators are reviewing a request to list the first options tied to spot Ether ETH ETFs on NYSE American’s securities exchange.
“[The] election was a massive win for crypto. It’s a complete game-changer,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Management, told the Financial Times.
“For the past four years, crypto has been operating with one arm, maybe two arms, tied behind its back. It’s faced a hostile SEC, major regulatory uncertainty [and] constrained access to basic banking services.”
“Imagine what happens when the headwinds abate,” Hougan said.
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