BlackRock, a major player in the investment management industry, has recently confirmed that it has no immediate plans to launch a Solana (SOL) ETF. This decision comes despite the success of their Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs that were launched earlier this year. The company’s Chief Investment Officer, Samara Cohen, made it clear in a recent interview with Bloomberg that a BlackRock Solana ETF launch is “not in the near term.” According to Cohen, the key factor in determining which assets are suitable for an ETF is investability and client demand.
While BlackRock may have chosen to stay away from small-cap altcoins like Solana for now, this opens up opportunities for other asset managers to step in and compete in this space. In fact, some firms have already filed to launch a Solana ETF, with VanEck being the first to do so in the United States. The company argued that regulators should have little reason to deny them for public trading, as SOL functions similarly to Bitcoin and Ethereum as digital commodities, which have already been approved.
Despite the success of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, the case for launching a Solana ETF remains uncertain. Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s Head of Digital Assets, pointed out that Solana is still far from reaching the threshold or track record of maturity, liquidity, and other key factors that would make it a viable ETF option. Mitchnick emphasized that Bitcoin remains the top priority among crypto-focused clients, followed by Ethereum, with very little interest in other assets.
One of the challenges that Solana faces in gaining approval for a spot ETF is the lack of a futures market on the CME, unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum. This futures market is a crucial aspect of the legal arguments for approving Bitcoin spot ETFs. Additionally, there is ongoing debate over whether SOL should be classified as a security token, with the SEC alleging as much in its lawsuit against Coinbase.
While BlackRock has decided not to pursue a Solana ETF at this time, the door remains open for other asset managers to explore this opportunity. The competition in the market for cryptocurrency ETFs is heating up, with firms like VanEck leading the way in seeking approval for a Solana spot ETF. As the cryptocurrency landscape continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how Solana and other altcoins fare in the realm of ETFs and institutional investment.
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