A major US asset manager filed for a spot Solana ETF this week, adding Solana to a product category that started with Bitcoin in January 2024 and expanded to Ethereum in July 2024. The question now is whether Solana follows the same path, or whether the regulatory issues that blocked it before have actually been resolved.
The ETF Precedent Bitcoin Set
Before January 2024, there was no spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States. The SEC had rejected every application for over a decade, arguing the market was too susceptible to manipulation. A court ruling in August 2023 forced the SEC’s hand, and 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs launched simultaneously in January 2024.
The appetite was immediate. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust became one of the fastest-growing ETFs ever by assets under management, reaching $10 billion in approximately seven weeks. Ethereum followed in May 2024, with smaller but still substantial inflows.
Both products did something important: they gave institutional allocators a regulated, custodied route into crypto without needing to hold private keys. For pension funds, family offices, and advisers with compliance departments, that distinction matters.
Why Solana Was Stuck
Solana was not next in line by accident. It is the third-largest proof-of-stake blockchain by market cap and, by most measures, the highest-throughput general-purpose chain. Transaction fees on Solana are routinely fractions of a cent. Daily active addresses have consistently outpaced Ethereum mainnet since 2024.
But Solana had a legal problem. In its 2023 lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance, the SEC listed SOL as an unregistered security. That single designation made a spot ETF application essentially dead on arrival: you cannot build a regulated investment product around an asset the regulator treats as an unregistered offering.
That changed under the new administration. The SEC withdrew those enforcement actions and signaled a different posture toward proof-of-stake assets. The CFTC has argued for years that SOL is a commodity, not a security. With those two positions now closer to alignment, the legal basis for a Solana ETF is meaningfully cleaner than it was 18 months ago.
What the Filing Does and Does Not Settle
A filing is not an approval. The SEC has 240 days to act on an ETF application, with extensions possible. The agency will look at several things: whether there is a regulated futures market of sufficient size, whether custodians can demonstrate adequate safeguards, and whether the applicant can satisfy the required surveillance-sharing agreements.
The absence of CME Solana futures is the most concrete gap. The Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF approvals both pointed to CME futures markets as evidence of price discovery in a regulated venue. Solana lacks that. Several exchanges list SOL derivatives, but none with the regulatory standing of the CME. Applicants will need either CME to add Solana futures or the SEC to accept a different surveillance framework.
The SEC has reportedly been in informal discussions with multiple asset managers about exactly this issue. A CME Solana futures product would accelerate the approval process significantly.
The Altcoin Pipeline Behind Solana
Solana is not the only asset in the queue. Applications have circulated or been floated for XRP, Litecoin, and Cardano. If a Solana ETF is approved, it will establish a clearer template for what other assets can qualify. The key variables appear to be market cap, liquidity, the security-versus-commodity determination, and the availability of regulated price discovery.
Solana scores well on market cap and liquidity. The commodity determination now looks favorable. The futures question remains the main obstacle.
What to Watch
Three things will determine whether this filing leads to an approval in 2026.
First, whether the CME lists Solana futures. Any announcement from CME Group on this point would be a strong leading indicator.
Second, how the SEC responds during the comment and review period. A request for additional information (a so-called “deficiency letter”) would signal friction; a clean review process would not.
Third, whether Congress passes stablecoin or broader digital asset legislation before the review window closes. A clearer statutory framework for classifying crypto assets would give the SEC more legal certainty to act.
The filing itself is not the news. The regulatory environment that made it viable is.