The main reason why there has been so much chatter regarding Solana ETFs lately is that the US securities regulator SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) is expected to be more friendly to crypto under the fresh US President Donald Trump.
During the Biden administration, when the SEC was headed by Gary Gensler, the SEC claimed that SOL (along with a fairly long list of other crypto assets) is an unregistered security, perhaps most notably in the lawsuits it filed against Coinbase and Binance in 2023.
Now, however, the Solana ETF appears to be just a matter of time. After all, SOL is the fourth largest crypto asset by market cap if we exclude StableCoins, and the largest crypto assets, Bitcoin and Ethereum, can already be invested through ETFs in the US.
In this article, we will explain what the Solana ETF is and why investors are excited about the potential of such an investment product to provide more momentum to the price of SOL. We’ll also explain why it took until 2026 for the Solana ETF to be approved for trading in the US despite widespread optimism in the crypto market right now.
Main highlights:
- After Donald Trump’s victory in the US elections, the chances of ETF Solana being approved in the US have increased significantly.
- The Solana ETF will allow investors to gain exposure to SOL without having to deal with a cryptocurrency exchange and worry about managing their private keys.
- The SEC still has ongoing lawsuits claiming that SOL is a security, which is why Solana ETF approval may take longer than expected.
What is Solana ETF and why should investors invest in it?
Solana is a high-performance blockchain platform that can handle thousands of transactions per second while keeping fees to a minimum.
The platform also has smart contract functionality, which allows users to launch custom tokens on Solana and develop all kinds of decentralized applications, from decentralized crypto exchanges to economic systems that incentivize users to maintain 5G wireless networks.
The basic economic unit of the Solana blockchain is SOL, a cryptocurrency used to incentivize users to run Solana nodes according to the rules of the protocol. SOL has seen impressive growth recently, and is currently trading with a market capitalization of over $100 billion.
Solana ETF is an investment vehicle that trades on a stock exchange and holds the Cryptocurrency SOL on behalf of investors. Investors can buy and sell shares in ETFs, just as with stocks.
The investment results of holding shares in the Solana ETF versus holding Sol cryptocurrency in a wallet or crypto exchange should ideally be similar. However, it’s worth noting that ETF issuers charge management fees, so holding a Solana ETF may yield slightly worse returns than simply holding SOL.
Despite this, SOL investors are excited about the potential approval of Solana ETF products for several reasons.
The Solana ETF will provide a simplified way for investors to gain exposure to SOL without having to navigate a cryptocurrency exchange or manage the private keys to their Solana wallet. This type of investment product will also simplify the process for institutional investors to allocate capital to increase its legitimacy and legitimacy as an asset, making it more attractive to cautious or conservative investors.
When it comes to Bitcoin, the launch of the first Bitcoin ETFs was a major catalyst that helped the BTC price achieve new all-time highs.
However, in the case of Ethereum, ratings on ETFs have not had nearly as much impact on the price of ETH.
Solana ETF Applicants
Several asset management companies have already submitted applications to list Solana ETFs in the US market.
The SEC has not yet approved any of these applications, but that may well change in 2025. It is worth keeping in mind that some of the largest ETF issuers have not applied for a Solana ETF application, and Fidelity has not applied for such an investment product either.
When is the Solana ETF approval date?
Currently, there is no approval date for the Solana ETF. Although many Solana ETF applications are active, the SEC will have plenty of opportunities to delay their decisions as long as they have any perceived concerns about allowing these investment products in the market.
Prediction market bettors currently give the polymarket an 89% chance of the Solana ETF getting approved in 2025. However, the prediction market is fairly small, with a volume of less than $50,000 in January 2025.
There is no guarantee that we will see the Solana ETF approved in 2025
In an interview published in January 2025, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyphart struck a note of caution about Solana ETFs, saying it could take until 2026 for such a product to be approved in the United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l2izgpzl-u
According to Seyffart, we should not expect the Solana ETF to be approved by the SEC while there are still ongoing lawsuits against the cryptocurrency exchange alleging that SOL and other crypto assets are unregistered securities.
“You’re not going to let the Division of Corporate Finance, the Division of Investment Management, and the Division of Trading and Markets analyze these assets that are going to be put into the ETF Commodities wrapper while you have another division at the SEC saying these are securities.”
However, Seyphart said that altcoin atfs in the US are “a matter of when, not if.”
Bottom line
It seems very likely that the Solana ETF will be approved in either 2025 or 2026. However, it is difficult to determine the exact timing of approval because the SEC still has ongoing litigation in which Solana’s classification is called into question.
If you’re looking to learn more about the Solana ecosystem, be sure to check out our article highlighting the best decentralized exchanges on Solana.
