What needs to happen for solana ETFs to be approved? Nate Geraci gives clues

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By TP

Key facts: VanEck and 21Shares filed applications to launch a solana (SOL)-based ETF. For the SEC, the SOL cryptocurrency is a security and should be regulated as such. Asset management firms VanEck and 21Shares filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) applications to launch a solana (SOL)-based exchange-traded fund (ETF).

As BitcoinDynamic reported, the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOE) asked the SEC for authorization to list these ETFs, through 19b-4 filings. This documentation sets a 240-day window for the agency led by Gary Gensler to respond to these requests. In this way, The deadline set is March 2025. In an interview with Thinking Crypto, Nate Geraci, president of ETF Store and specialist in exchange-traded funds, was asked about the subject and he opined that These financial instruments are unlikely to be approved in the short term.

“We had the debut of the Bitcoin and Ether ETFs. So everyone wants to know what’s next and Solana naturally comes to mind. So I think the SEC should make a decision on the VanEck and 21Shares filings before March of next year,” he explained. In that sense, he remarked:

“It will likely take a Donald Trump administration to get the solana ETF approved, at least in the near term. The Kamala Harris administration would theoretically maintain an SEC with Gary Gensler and there has been no indication that they have any intentions to embrace crypto at this time.” Nate Geraci, President of ETF Store.

The specialist also mentions the SEC's legal presentation against Binance, where it is classified as the altcoin of the Solana network as a security unregistered that must be regulatedIn its arguments, the US agency points out that there is evidence that SOL is a stock of Solana Labs, the organization that builds products to expand the ecosystem of that network. “Since initial sales in September 2020, SOL is reasonably considered an investment and its holders expect to benefit from Solana Labs’ efforts to grow the Solana protocol, which in turn would increase the demand and value of SOL,” the document clarifies.

Nate Geraci, president of ETF Store and ETF specialist. Source: Thinking Crypto YouTube. For Geraci, solana also “needs to have a futures market on the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange)”, just like bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). “If we were to get them, they still need to have a track record. We would probably need to see solana futures ETFs and then we would get the spot. You are talking about a couple of years at least for that to happen,” he added. It is worth remembering that the futures markets served as proof to show that BTC and ETH trades were not manipulated. Solana does not yet have a market of this nature and this could be an obstacle for VanEck and 21Shares to obtain the approval they need. Like Geraci, VanEck's head of research, Matthew Sigel, believes that these ETFs can be approved, but «with another president at the SEC.» Meanwhile, Eric Balchunas, market analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, does not hesitate to emphasize that the determining factor for the future of these presentations is the elections in the United States. The current presidential candidate for the Republican Party, Donald Trump, has been showing a position in favor of cryptocurrencies on his way to returning to the White House. For this reason, the main actors affirm that the conditions for the sector could change under his administration.