After the successful launch of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this year, cryptocurrency investors are now turning their attention to the potential for Solana ETFs.
A Solana ETF would offer mainstream investors access to the fifth most-popular cryptocurrency, which has a market capitalization exceeding $82 billion.
Once a favorite of FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, Solana faced significant risks when the third-largest crypto exchange in the world collapsed in 2022. Despite this, Solana’s relatively lower transaction fees and popularity with memecoin issuers have facilitated its recovery over the past year.
Global investment firm Franklin Templeton is among those highlighting the benefits of a potential Solana ETF. “Beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are other exciting and significant developments that we believe will propel the crypto space forward,” Franklin Templeton stated on social media. The firm, which was approved for spot Ether and Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year, added, “Solana has shown major adoption and continues to mature, overcoming technological growing pains and underscoring the potential of high-throughput, monolithic architectures.”
In the last 24 hours, Solana has seen trading volumes of $2.9 billion.
Franklin Templeton is not alone in considering Solana ETFs. According to ETF analysts, more crypto ETFs are likely to emerge in the coming months. “After the initial launches, there will be more flows, and then additional Ether products, followed by Solana, and so on. It’s likely to be an ongoing trend. The dam has broken,” remarked Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg.
Last month, issuers VanEck and 21Shares submitted separate applications to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a Solana ETF, following their successful Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF approvals. This move has sparked speculation that other issuers will follow suit.
The SEC is expected to respond to the initial Solana ETF filings by mid-March 2025.
“It’s reasonable to expect other ETF issuers to follow after the Ether ETF,” said Pantera Capital’s portfolio manager Cosmo Jiang to Bloomberg. “The Bitcoin ETF has been incredibly successful, which will likely motivate issuers to launch other spot digital asset ETPs [exchange-traded products].”
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