SEC Delays Decision on Solana ETF Filings

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has extended its deadline to decide on multiple proposals for exchange-traded funds tracking the price of Solana, according to separate regulatory filings on Monday. 

The SEC said it needed more time to digest legal and policy issues related to the applications from 21Shares, Bitwise, VanEck and Canary Capital, the agency said. The delays, however, do not reflect the likelihood of the regulator approving or rejecting the funds. 

“Institution of proceedings does not indicate that the Commission has reached any conclusions with respect to any of the issues involved,” the SEC said Monday. “The Commission seeks and encourages interested persons to provide comments on the proposed rule change.”

The extension comes as the Commission considers various proposals for ETFs based on a wide range digital assets, including meme coins such as Official Trump, Bonk and Dogecoin,NFTs such as Pudgy Penguins and blue-chip cryptocurrencies such as Solana. 

Asset managers have flooded regulators’ desks with proposals for myriad digital asset-based investment products following U.S. President Donald Trump’s election last November. The new administration signaled it would place pro-crypto regulators in key positions of power and overhaul its ETF regulations, fueling expectations that approvals for crypto-based funds would be fast- tracked.  

However, investment firms and their clients would be wise to manage their expectations, even as federal agencies signal their willingness to embrace crypto, Bitwise Asset Management CFA Juan Leon told Decrypt. 

“People were expecting [the Commission] to just green light everything as soon as the applications got put in,” but that isn’t how the process works, Leon said. 

“People have to realize that these government organizations are bureaucratic, and these processes take longer than people realize,” he said. 

He added, “there is undoubtedly room for disappointment in the market, but I think we're seeing an inflection point in the regulatory race and we're going to see many more products come to market over the next year or two.”

Edited by James Rubin