VanEck and 21Shares file Solana ETF forms, start "SEC decision clock"

Key Takeaways

• VanEck and 21Shares have submitted 19b-4 forms for spot Solana ETFs to Cboe, initiating the SEC decision process.
• Analysts project a mid-March 2025 deadline for Solana ETFs, with November elections potentially impacting approval.

Asset management firms VanEck and 21Shares filed the 19b-4 forms for the spot Solana exchange-traded funds (ETF) with the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe). According to Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store, once the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acknowledges these filings, “the decision clock starts ticking”.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas shared that the most likely deadline for Solana ETFs is mid-March 2025, with November being the most important date due to the US presidential elections. “If Biden wins, these likely DOA. If Trump wins, anything poss,” he added.

Notably, the 19b-4 form is a document that self-regulatory organizations, such as exchanges, must file with the SEC for public recordkeeping. This means that both filings aim to register Solana-related products. However, this is just one of two steps, since a 19b-4 form approval must be followed by the approval of the S-1 form, which enables the trading of registered products.

The filings from the Cboe come less than two weeks after VanEck filed for the first spot Solana ETF in the US. At the time of the filing, Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, shared his belief that SOL is a commodity such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

On June 28th, one day after VanEck’s filing, 21Shares also got into the spot Solana ETF run with its application. 

Despite the significant development of a spot Solana ETF filing in the US, on-chain research firm Kaiko highlighted that the news failed to impact the market significantly.