VanEck, one of the issuers of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, has recently filed for a Solana ETF. Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, announced on X that the company has submitted an application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the VanEck Solana Trust.
The VanEck Solana Trust aims to leverage the features of the Solana blockchain, including decentralization, high utility, and economic sustainability of the SOL token. Sigel explained that this is the first attempt in the United States to launch an ETF specifically dedicated to Solana.
In his announcement, Sigel outlined the reasons why VanEck considers SOL a commodity: “We believe that the native token, SOL, operates similarly to other digital assets like Bitcoin and Ether. It is used to pay transaction fees and computational services on the blockchain. Like ETH on the Ethereum network, SOL can be traded on digital asset platforms or used in peer-to-peer transactions.”
According to the filing, if approved by the SEC, the VanEck Solana Trust will be listed on the CBOE BZX Exchange. The trust’s objective is to replicate the performance of the SOL cryptocurrency, net of management fees. To determine the daily value of the trust’s shares, the MarketVector Solana Benchmark Rate index will be used, based on prices provided by the five best trading platforms for SOL according to the CCData Centralized Exchange Benchmark review report.
VanEck’s initiative for a Solana ETF comes shortly after the SEC approved spot ETFs for Ether on May 23, 2024. This approval ended long-standing discussions about Ether’s regulatory status, confirming it as a commodity. Subsequently, on June 19, the SEC closed the investigation into the nature of Ether, further solidifying its status as a commodity.