At 13:00 UTC on the 27th, news broke that VanEck had submitted a Solana ETF application, sparking excitement in the Solana ecosystem token market. The price of SOL briefly surged above 150 USDT, and top ecosystem tokens like WIF and RAY rose more than 10% within an hour.
Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Asset Research at VanEck, confirmed this news on the X platform, stating that VanEck had applied for a Solana ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This new fund is named the VanEck Solana Trust, making it the first Solana ETF application in the U.S.
When discussing why they applied for a Solana ETF, Matthew explained, “Solana is a competitor to Ethereum, capable of handling payments, transactions, gaming, and social interactions. The Solana blockchain operates as a single global state machine without sharding or Layer 2 solutions, providing a better user experience.
We believe the combination of high throughput, low fees, strong security, and a robust community atmosphere makes Solana an attractive choice for an ETF, offering investors a versatile and innovative open-source ecosystem.”
A Glimmer of Hope, But Approval Remains Distant
Although VanEck’s move marks another significant milestone in Solana’s development, actual approval may still be a long way off in terms of time and procedure.
Wintermute founder Evgeny Gaevoy poured cold water on the excitement, stating, “The likelihood of a SOL ETF being approved this year is almost zero. It is naive to think this will become a priority for the Trump administration; once you see the fund flows for ETH ETFs, you’ll understand that even if a SOL ETF gets approved, the inflows will be minimal.”
Evgeny added that Wintermute is a long-term supporter of both SOL and ETH but cautioned against overhyping and emphasized that crypto adoption takes time.
James Seyffart, a Bloomberg analyst who closely followed the Bitcoin ETF applications, also commented, suggesting that if there’s a change in the White House administration and a personnel shift at the SEC, related applications might launch sometime in 2025, but it is not guaranteed. James stressed that following VanEck’s submission of the first SOL ETF in the U.S., it is crucial to watch if other issuers will follow suit.
Looking Back at VanEck and ETFs
As early as 2013, the U.S. SEC received the first Bitcoin ETF application, but it was shelved due to the immature market at the time.
In 2018, Bitcoin ETF applications reached their first peak, with VanEck being one of the pioneers. At that time, VanEck and SolidX partnered to apply for a Bitcoin ETF, which was rejected on February 27, 2019.
In October 2021, ProShares’ Bitcoin futures ETF was approved and started trading, becoming the first Bitcoin-related ETF approved in the U.S. In the same month, VanEck’s Bitcoin futures ETF was approved.
However, its Bitcoin spot ETF was rejected the following month, and it wasn’t until January of this year, three years later, that VanEck’s Bitcoin spot ETF finally received SEC approval.
The journey of Bitcoin ETFs has been fraught with challenges, with each significant progress taking years. The path to Solana ETF approval is expected to be equally long.
Is Solana a Commodity or Security?
Previously, the core issue preventing the approval of an Ethereum spot ETF was the unresolved debate over whether Ethereum should be classified as a commodity or a security.
19b-4
The reason the 19b-4 filings for Ethereum spot ETFs were able to pass in May was that the applicants amended their terms to ensure ETH would not involve staking operations. Additionally, last week (June 18), the U.S. SEC announced the conclusion of its investigation into Ethereum 2.0, a significant victory signaling a potential shift in the stance towards POS token staking. Tokens previously considered securities might be classified as commodities in the future.
While the classification of other cryptocurrencies as commodities or securities remains unresolved, posing a barrier to ETF approval, this does not prevent leading institutions like VanEck from preemptively applying.
In fact, regarding this issue, Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s Head of Digital Asset Research, expressed his view in a post: “Why do we believe SOL is a commodity like BTC and ETH? We see that the native token SOL functions similarly to other digital commodities, being used to pay transaction fees and computational services on the blockchain.
Like ETH on Ethereum, SOL can be traded on digital asset platforms or used for peer-to-peer transactions. The decentralized nature, high utility, and economic viability of SOL align with the characteristics of other mature digital commodities, reinforcing our belief that SOL could become a valuable commodity.”
However, this is just VanEck’s perspective. Whether the SEC will approve the SOL spot ETF remains to be seen.
Conclusion
Given the current market conditions, the approval of a Solana ETF is still a long way off. However, crypto market trading often hinges on anticipation and speculation rather than waiting for actual news to materialize. Each significant development could potentially drive a wave of price increases in Solana ecosystem tokens.
Of course, this process involves high market volatility and frequent fluctuations, so Odaily reminds investors to be cautious of risks and avoid excessive leverage.
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