After the successful debut of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and spot ethereum ETFs this year, crypto investors are eyeing a third crypto entrant: Solana ETFs.
The possible Solana ETFs would give mainstream investors exposure to the fifth most-popular cryptocurrency, which boasts a market capitalization of more than $82 billion.
Once a favorite of FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency stood on a risky precipice when the third-largest crypto exchange in the world collapsed in 2022. However, it’s comparatively lower fees and success with memecoin issuers have allowed the beleaguered crypto to rebound in the past year.
Besides Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are other exciting and major developments that we believe will drive the crypto space forward. Solana has shown major adoption and continues to mature, overcoming technological growing pains and highlighting the potential of high-throughput,…
— Franklin Templeton Digital Assets (@FTI_DA) July 23, 2024
Global investment firm Franklin Templeton is among those extolling a potential Solana ETF: “Besides bitcoin and ethereum, there are other exciting and major developments that we believe will drive the crypto space forward,” Franklin Templeton wrote on social media. The firm is one of the issuers behind a spot ether and spot bitcoin ETF. “Solana has shown major adoption and continues to mature, overcoming technological growing pains and highlighting the potential of high-throughput, monolithic architectures.”
In the last 24 hours, Solana has seen $2.9 billion worth of trades at the time of writing.
Franklin Templeton isn’t the only firm eyeing Solana ETFs. According to ETF analysts, there is an opening for more crypto ETFs to emerge in the coming months: “Keep in mind after launch, there are flows, and then add [ether] products, I’m sure, then Solana, and then… It’s probably never going to end. The dam has broken,” Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said.
Last month, issuers VanEck and 21Shares filed separate applications with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a Solana ETF on the heels of their successful bitcoin and ethereum ETF approvals. The move triggered speculation that other issuers would follow suit.
The SEC is expected to respond to the initial Solana ETF filings in mid-March 2025.
“It’s reasonable to expect other ETF issuers to follow after the [ether] ETF,” Pantera Capital’s portfolio manager Cosmo Jiang told Bloomberg. “The [bitcoin] ETF has been such an incredible success that it will drive issuers to want to launch other spot digital asset ETPs [exchange-traded products].”