GuShiio.com Recently, more and more institutions have joined the ranks of crypto ETFs, and the application progress of spot ETFs for SOL, LTC and XRP has ushered in obvious new progress. However, only Gray’s Solana ETF, Litecoin Trust and Canary’s Litecoin ETF applications were the first to be accepted by the SEC.
Author: Nancy, PANews
Shortly after Gary Gensler left office, the U.S. SEC showed a more friendly attitude towards cryptocurrencies under the leadership of the new administration. Its new crypto working group even said it would clarify the approval rules for crypto ETFs. Recently, more and more institutions have joined the ranks of crypto ETFs, and the application progress of spot ETFs for SOL, LTC and XRP has ushered in significant new progress.
According to PANNews statistics, SOL and LTC have the largest number of spot ETF applicants, with 5 issuers participating. In terms of progress, major institutions have submitted 19b-4 documents for SOL, LTC and XRP, but only Gray’s Solana ETF, Litecoin Trust and Canary’s Litecoin ETF applications were the first to be accepted by the SEC. According to the rules, usually after the SEC accepts a 19b-4 document, it will publish it in the Federal Register and open a 21-day public comment period. After that, the SEC will conduct multiple rounds of extensions, reviews, and finally make a decision on approval or rejection. This time period is up to 240 days, and the key nodes of the reply date are 45 days, 45 days, 90 days and 60 days respectively.
SOL Spot ETF: 5 institutions participated in the application, gray has been accepted by the SEC
Currently, five issuers have submitted spot Solana (SOL) ETF applications: Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, 21Shares and Canary Capital. Unlike several other institutions, Grayscale converts Solana trust funds into spot ETFs.
Although these institutions submitted SOL spot ETF application documents last year, many were rejected by the US SEC. On January 29 this year, the Cboe BZX Exchange resubmitted the 19b-4 document of the spot Solana ETF on Tuesday on behalf of multiple institutions including Bitwise and VanEck. Judging from the approval timeline, the next approval time for the SEC is March 30 and April 3 respectively.
It is worth mentioning that the SEC seems to have “relaxed”. The latest news shows that the agency accepted the 19b-4 application of the Grayscale Solana ETF.
In response, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said this could be a positive signal for anyone (or any exchange) facing an SEC lawsuit in which the SEC openly claims that Solana is a security…
Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, also said that this is news worthy of attention. This is the first time the SEC has recognized an ETF application that tracked tokens previously called “securities.” Just six weeks ago, the SEC, led by Gensler, asked the CBOE to withdraw its Solana 19b-4 application. So we are now entering new territory, and although it is only a small step, it seems to be a direct result of a leadership change.
XRP Spot ETF: Received applications from 5 institutions, all submitted19b-4 Document
So far, including Grayscale, Bitwise, Canary Capital, 21Shares and Wisdomtree have applied for XRP spot ETFs. Among them, Grayscale applied to convert the XRP trust into a spot cryptocurrency ETF by submitting a 19b-4 document on January 30 this year, and Cboe BZX Exchange submitted a 19b-4 document on behalf of Bitwise, 21Shares and Canary Capital on February 6 to apply for listing and trading the XRP spot ETF. Once confirmed by the SEC, the application will be published in the Federal Register, initiating the regulatory approval process.
LTC Spot ETF:Both Grayscale and Canary applications accepted by SEC
Currently, only Grayscale and Canary Capital have submitted LTC spot ETF applications. According to documents, Canary Capital and Grayscale submitted 19b-4 document applications for LTC ETF on January 16 and January 24 this year respectively. At the same time, the SEC has accepted Litecoin ETF applications from both institutions and is now entering a 21-day public comment window, but the SEC may decide to approve, reject or “initiate the process.”
Eric Balchunas recently stated that he still believes Litecoin will become the next crypto spot ETF approved by the SEC.
In addition to SOL, XRP and LTC, multiple crypto assets have also joined the spot ETF approval battle. For example, in January this year, Rex applied for multiple applications such as Trump ETF and BONK ETF; in February, the New York Stock Exchange Arca submitted Form 19b-4 for the spot Dogecoin ETF to the SEC; and 21Shares submitted an S-1 registration application for the spot Polkadot ETF to the SEC.
