Grayscale’s Solana ETF Gains Official Recognition
Major development for Solana, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has officially acknowledged Grayscale’s refiled application for a spot Solana exchange-traded fund.
The SEC officially acknowledged the amended application for a spot Solana ETF by Grayscale on Feb 6. It is a huge development considering earlier filings of SOL ETFs had been rejected during the leadership of SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
Finance attorney Scott Johnsson, in a thread on X, said previous rejections were all because Solana products had been improperly classified as commodity trust shares. Back in January, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart claimed the issue was that the SEC’s Division of Enforcement had treated Solana as a security, making approval difficult under a commodities ETF framework.
Timeline for a Solana ETF Remains Unclear
The timeline for approval of a Solana ETF is now anyone’s guess, with analysts’ estimates all over the board. As far back as November, ETF Store President Nate Geraci speculated that approval might come before the end of next year, citing them growing engagement with issuers as a good omen. But Seyffart warned the process could spill into 2026, since the SEC takes 240 to 260 days on average to process this kind of filing.
Surge in Crypto ETF Filings as Issuers Test SEC’s Stance
This comes as crypto ETF filings have been piling up before them in the last couple of weeks. Major issuers including 21Shares, Bitwise, VanEck and Canary Capital are vying for the approval of a spot Solana ETF. Cboe BZX Exchange refiled 19b-4 forms on behalf of the aforementioned issuers on Jan. 28.
Beyond Solana, the SEC has acknowledged several other crypto ETF applications. Among them is Grayscale’s filing for a Litecoin (LTC) ETF, as well as BlackRock’s proposal to enable in-kind creations and redemptions for its iShares Bitcoin ETF. Additionally, Cboe BZX submitted forms for Canary Capital, WisdomTree, 21Shares, and Bitwise to list a spot Ripple (XRP) ETF.
Bitwise has joined the lot with a spot Dogecoin (DOGE) ETF proposal, which shows the increasing interest of institutions into digital asset investments.
The SEC’s acknowledgment of these filings does not necessarily mean that they will be approved, but rather is part of the evolving regulatory landscape around cryptocurrency ETFs.
