A look at several crypto spot ETFs New progress: SEC review speeds up, SOL and LTC application progress leads

Author: Nancy, PANews

Shortly after Gary Gensler left office, the US SEC showed a more friendly attitude towards cryptocurrencies under the leadership of the new government, and its new crypto working group even stated that it would clarify the approval rules for crypto ETFs. In recent times, more and more institutions have joined the ranks of crypto ETF applications, among which the application progress of spot ETFs of SOL, LTC and XRP has ushered in obvious new progress.

According to PANews statistics, SOL and LTC have the largest number of spot ETF applications, with 5 issuers participating. Judging from the progress, major institutions have submitted 19b-4 documents for SOL, LTC and XRP, but only Grayscale Solana ETF, Litecoin Trust, and Canary's Litecoin ETF applications were first accepted by the SEC. According to the rules, the SEC will usually publish it in the Federal Gazette after accepting 19b-4 documents and start a 21-day public comment period. After that, the SEC will conduct multiple rounds of extensions and reviews, and finally make a decision to approve or reject. This time period is up to 240 days, and the key nodes of the reply date are 45 days, 45 days, 90 days and 60 days respectively.

**SOL spot ETF: 5 institutions participated in the application, Grayscale

has been accepted by the SEC**

At present, five issuers have submitted spot Solana (SOL) ETF applications, namely Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, 21Shares and Canary Capital. Unlike several other institutions, Grayscale converts the Solana Trust Fund into a spot ETF.

Although these institutions submitted SOL spot ETF application documents last year, many were rejected by the US SEC. On January 29 this year, Cboe BZX exchange resubmitted the spot Solana ETF's 19b-4 documents on Tuesday on behalf of several institutions such as Bitwise and VanEck. Judging from the approval timeline, the next approval time for SEC is March 30 and April 3 respectively.

It is worth mentioning that the SEC seems to have "relaxed". The latest news shows that the agency has accepted the 19b-4 application of Grayscale Solana ETF.

In response, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said this could be a positive signal for anyone facing an SEC lawsuit (or any exchange) in which the SEC blatantly claims Solana is a security. ..

Eric Balchunas, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst, also said this is news worth paying attention to. This is the first time that the SEC has admitted an ETF application to track tokens previously known as "securities." Just six weeks ago, the SEC, led by Gensler, also asked CBOE to withdraw its Solana 19b-4 application. So we are now entering a new territory, and although this is only a small step, it seems to be the direct result of leadership changes.

**XRP spot ETF: Applicants from 5 institutions, all of which have

submitted** 19b-4 documents

As of now, including Grayscale, Bitwise, Canary Capital, 21Shares and Wisdomtree have applied for XRP spot ETFs. Among them, Grayscale applied to convert XRP trust into spot cryptocurrency ETF by submitting 19b-4 documents on January 30 this year, and Cboe BZX Exchange submitted 19b-4 documents on February 6 on behalf of Bitwise, 21Shares and Canary Capital. Apply for listing and trading of XRP spot ETFs. Once confirmed by the SEC, the application will be published in the Federal Register, starting the regulatory approval process.

LTC spot ETF: **Grayscale and Canary applications are accepted by

SEC**

Currently, only Grayscale and Canary Capital have submitted LTC spot ETF applications. According to the documents, Canary Capital and Grayscale submitted applications for the 19b-4 document of the LTC ETF on January 16 and January 24 respectively this year. At the same time, the SEC has accepted Litecoin ETF applications from both institutions and is now entering a 21-day window of public comments, but the SEC may decide to approve, refuse or "start the process."

Eric Balchunas said it still believes that Litecoin will be the next SEC-approved crypto spot ETF.

In addition to SOL, XRP and LTC, multiple crypto assets have also joined the spot ETF approval battle. For example, in January this year, Rex applied for multiple applications such as Trump ETF, BONK ETF, etc.; in February, Arca, the New York Stock Exchange, submitted Form 19b-4 of the spot Dogecoin ETF to the SEC; 21Shares submitted S- of the spot Polkadot ETF to the SEC 1Register application.