Many in the crypto community have been talking about a Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) for some time now. Yesterday, that dream inched a little closer.
VanEck, a global asset manager, filed for the first spot Solana ETF on Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If approved, it would open up mainstream investors to the Solana market via traditional stock exchanges.
Unsurprisingly, the move had the Solana community buzzing with excitement. It also sparked a rise in the price of Solana’s native token $SOL. On Thursday, $SOL rose from $135 per coin to touch $150, an increase of around 11%. Since then, it has retraced a bit. At the time of writing, it was hovering around $141 per coin.
VanEck’s filing comes not long after 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved on January 10th, 2024, including from some of the world’s largest asset managers like BlackRock, Grayscale, and Fidelity. An Ethereum spot ETF also appears to be on the horizon, with some predicting it could be approved as early as July 4th of this year. If that were to happen, Galaxy analysts predict that the first five months could see $5 billion in net inflows.
Matthew Sigel, the head of digital assets research at VanEck, said that they believe “SOL functions similar to other digital commodities such as bitcoin and ETH.” He complimented SOL’s “combination of scalability, speed, and low costs.”
VanEck is no stranger to being a first mover in the industry. In 2021, VanEck was the first to file for a spot ether (ETH) ETF. If the ETH ETF is indeed approved, most experts believe SOL would be the next candidate to be considered. Ripple’s XRP is also another crypto that’s being tossed around.
Though the filing by VanEck’s is big news for Solana, it’s unlikely there will be an ETF launch anytime soon. Some are predicting sometime in 2025, though it’s worth noting, it took the Bitcoin ETFs three years to be approved. The SEC is not an easy agency to predict, and the U.S. is hosting presidential elections in November, which could shake things up.
The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Solana
At the height of the bull market, the price of $SOL was as high as $259 a coin. But the crypto winter was extremely chilly for Solana, and its price dipped below $10 in December 2022. Since then, Solana has recovered nicely, and it now looks poised for another breakout.
At Rarity Sniper, we’ve covered dozens of stories about Solana in recent months. Here are some of the top headlines:
- APhone Partners with Solana Mobile for NFT Initiative
- $100M Raised in Three Days for Solana Memecoin Sales
- Solana Gaming Project MixMob Acquires Stormtroopers IP
- Generative Art Collection ‘Rubber’ Takes Off on Solana
- Solana Web3 Game ‘Nyan Heroes’ Arrives to Epic Game Store
- Solana NFT Sales Eclipse Ethereum in December
Solana’s strength has always been its speed and affordability. The blockchain has processed up to 65,000 transactions per second in testing, and the cost per transaction is a fraction of many other blockchains. Both of these factors have helped Solana gain popularity in the Web3 gaming and NFT spaces.
Although the Solana community will have to be patient for the approval of a spot Solana ETF, the fact that VanEck believes it’s a possibility in the near future is a big deal for the space. At Rarity Sniper, we’ll be on the hunt for any updates to the story.