Investment management firm VanEck has filed an application to launch the first Solana spot ETF in the United States. The firm submitted its proposal to the SEC on June 26, positioning Solana as a commodity with benefits over Ethereum.
The VanEck Solana Trust aims to mirror Solana’s (SOL) performance minus costs. If approved, it would trade on the Cboe BZX Exchange under a yet-to-be-announced ticker. The trust plans to hold SOL directly, with share values based on the MarketVector Solana Benchmark Rate from major SOL trading platforms.
This move follows rising interest in crypto investment products. Grayscale started a Solana Trust Fund for big investors in 2021. Unlike some offerings, VanEck’s proposed ETF won’t stake or earn extra from its SOL holdings.
Regulatory hurdles for Solana spot ETF
Solana faces hurdles in getting a spot ETF. It lacks a futures ETF, which came before spot approvals for Bitcoin and Ethereum. The SEC’s earlier view of SOL as a security adds complexity, causing Robinhood to delist it.
Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said it’s unclear if others will follow VanEck’s lead. Depending on SEC and White House changes, he thinks a launch might not happen until 2025.
Seyffart noted:
There’s no deadline yet because this filing is just an S-1 at the moment. I don’t see a 19b-4 filing yet which would give us an idea of deadline timing. If they file a 19b-4 today — the deadline would be sometime around mid March 2025.
The proposed ETF structure uses cash-only creations and redemptions, with Authorized Participants handling just cash, not SOL. This may ease regulatory concerns about financial firms directly handling crypto.
Nevertheless, VanEck’s Solana ETF bid marks a big step toward more institutional access to digital assets beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. The result could set a precedent for future altcoin ETFs and reshape US crypto investing.
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