VanEck said it believes SOL is a commodity, just like bitcoin and ether.
Cryptocurrency-based exchange-traded funds continue to be on the main stage in the US, with the latest filing from VanEck taking into account the fifth-largest digital asset – Solana.
Shortly after the news broke, the native token’s price shot up by 7% to $150.
Matthew Sigel, the company’s Head of Digital Assets Research, highlighted the development on X. He noted that the firm believes Solana is very similar to Ethereum as it operates as an “open-source blockchain software designed to handle various applications, including payments, trading, gaming, and social interactions.”
He added that, unlike Ethereum, Solana works as a “single global state machine” that lacks sharding or layer-2 networks.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in January this year after a decade-long battle. However, the US regulators are certain that the underlying asset (BTC) is a commodity.
Just last month, the securities watchdog reluctantly greenlighted spot Ethereum ETFs, but it continues to delay their launch since ETH’s stance is still uncertain, according to the SEC.
As such, SOL’s stature is still quite questionable. However, Sigel outlined several reasons why VanEck believes it is a commodity, like ether and bitcoin.
“We believe the native token, SOL, functions similarly to other digital commodities such as #bitcoin and #ETH. 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.”
SOL’s price reacted immediately to the news, soaring by 7% in minutes. The asset had stumbled to $135 amid the market-wide correction but jumped to $150 after the VanEck announcement.
