With the approval of an important filing in the race to launch a spot ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF), industry leaders are already wondering which cryptocurrency could be next.
Standard Chartered (STAN) said it believes Solana (SOL) or Ripple’s XRP could be the next contenders, but not until 2025.
“For other coins (eg. SOL, XRP), markets will look ahead to their eventual ETF status as well, albeit this is likely a 2025 story, not a 2024 one,” analyst Geoffrey Kendric said. “For now, bitcoin and ether dominance will rise, with selective “next in line” winners as well.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday approved forms 19b-4 filed by would-be issuers. While this is an important step in the race to launch a spot ether ETF, it is only one of two forms that needs approval from the regulator.
It could take the SEC weeks if not months – even potentially indefinitely – to approve the S-1 document, which has so far only been filed by a few potential issuers.
Several industry experts have suggested that SOL would be a logical choice for a third ETF, given its similarities to Ethereum.
Brokerage firm Bernstein said in a note on Thursday that given Ethereum’s classification as a commodity, the token could follow a similar path. Solana is the third biggest cryptocurrency after bitcoin and ether by market cap. This is excluding stablecoin Tether (USDT) and Binance Coin (BNB).
CORRECTION (May 24, 2024, 15:14 UTC): Fixes XRP’s ticker symbol in the headline.
Edited by Parikshit Mishra.
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Helene is a New York-based reporter covering Wall Street, the rise of the spot bitcoin ETFs and crypto exchanges. She is also the co-host of CoinDesk’s Markets Daily show. Helene is a graduate of New York University’s business and economic reporting program and has appeared on CBS News, YahooFinance and Nasdaq TradeTalks. She holds BTC and ETH.
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