(Kitco News) – Asset managers are growing bolder in their attempts to provide institutional investors with access to digital assets as VanEck, one of the first to issue a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States, has now filed for a Solana ETF.
“I am excited to announce that VanEck just filed for the FIRST Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US,” tweeted Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck. “SOL’s decentralized nature, high utility, and economic feasibility align with the characteristics of other established digital commodities, reinforcing our belief that SOL may be a valuable commodity with use cases for investors, builders, and entrepreneurs looking for alternatives to the duopoly app stores.”
Sigel said that VanEck “believes Solana stands out as a powerful and accessible blockchain software,” and highlighted the network’s “high throughput, low fees, robust security, and a strong community vibe,” which makes Solana “an attractive option for an exchange-traded fund, offering investors exposure to a versatile and innovative open-source ecosystem.”
“We believe the native token, SOL, functions similarly to other digital commodities such as Bitcoin and Ether,” he said. “It is utilized to pay for transaction fees and computational services on the blockchain. Like ether on the Ethereum network, SOL can be traded on digital asset platforms or used in peer-to-peer transactions.”
“The broad range of applications and services supported by the Solana ecosystem, from decentralized finance (DeFi) to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), underscores SOL's utility and value as a digital commodity,” Sigel added. “No single intermediary or entity operates or controls the Solana network, a principle referred to as decentralization.”
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, the VanEck Solana Trust is expected to be listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange if approved. The fund’s investment objective is “to reflect the performance of the price of Solana ("SOL") less the expenses of the Trust's operations,” the filing states.
The value of shares of the fund will be determined using the MarketVector Solana Benchmark Rate index. This is calculated based on prices provided by what MarketVector considers to be the top five SOL trading platforms, as determined by the CCData Centralized Exchange Benchmark review report.
News of the filing provided a boost to Solana’s price. At the time of writing, SOL trades at $147.32, an increase of 8% on the 24-hour chart.
Ether ETFs to launch by July 4
On the Ethereum (ETH) ETF front, a report from Reuters suggests that the SEC could approve multiple funds to start trading as soon as July 4, as discussions between asset managers and the regulator enter the final stages.
Sources for the report included industry executives and other participants, who told Reuters that “the process of amending the offering documents has progressed to resolving only ‘minor’ issues.” Approval of those documents is required before the ETFs can launch.
A lawyer working with one of the issuers said the process was “down to the finishing touches,” and that approval is “probably not more than a week or two away.”
A total of eight asset managers, including BlackRock, VanEck, Franklin Templeton, and Grayscale Investments, have filed Ether ETF applications and received the initial approval for accelerated launch on May 23.
Since the SEC has already approved the rule changes required for the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and Cboe to list and oversee trading in the new products, once the filings are approved, the products could start trading in as little as 24 hours.
While SEC Chair Gary Gensler has refrained from providing a specific timeline for the launch, he said at a Bloomberg Conference on Tuesday that progress on the applications was “going smoothly.” He also stressed the necessity for asset managers to provide full disclosure in their registration statements, which is required for the ETFs to be approved.
Last week, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart said there was “No way to know when these things will launch based off of [the] filings,” and suggested that “launch timing will mostly be up to the SEC.”
“[Eric Balchunas] and I *think* the SHOULD launch before July 4th,” Seyffart said.
