First Bitcoin, then Ethereum, and now Solana. The crypto trade is flooding conventional markets with property pegged to cryptocurrencies that mom-and-pop traders should buy up from their brokerage accounts. On Wednesday morning, the primary Solana exchange-traded fund, or ETF, went reside on Cboe BZX, a inventory change based mostly in Chicago.
Dubbed the REX-Osprey SOL and Staking ETF, the fund is obtainable to traders who need publicity to Solana, one of many prime cryptocurrencies whose market capitalization is about $81 billion, in accordance with knowledge from Binance. Along with monitoring the value of Solana, the fund, managed collectively by REX Monetary and its sister agency Osprey Funds, additionally pays holders a variable month-to-month dividend whose present charge is 7.3%
The value of Solana jumped 2% after markets opened Wednesday to now round $151. The ETF has seen inflows of about $20 million earlier than noon, Greg King, founder and CEO of REX Monetary, instructed Fortune.
Once they had been first launched, cryptocurrency ETFs appeared unique to many retail traders, however the successive debut of a Bitcoin, Ethereum, and now a Solana fund recommend the merchandise are gaining a broader enchantment.
The ETFs additionally characterize an entry level for brand new crypto traders at a time when brokerages like Vanguard don’t let their customers plug right into a crypto change and purchase the latest, hottest token. The arrival of spot crypto ETFs, or conventional market wrappers across the present value of a cryptocurrency, enable conventional and institutional traders to allocate a portion of their portfolio to crypto.
For years, the Securities and Alternate Fee blocked the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs within the U.S., despite the fact that related merchandise had been accessible in Europe. The SEC apprehensive that the crypto-tied property can be liable to market manipulation. Grayscale, a crypto funding agency, battled the regulator within the courts, and, in October 2023, a decide stated the SEC’s rejections of Grayscale’s utility for a spot Bitcoin ETF had been “arbitrary and capricious.”
In January 2024, a slew of spot Bitcoin ETFs went reside, together with an entry into the class from the asset administration titan BlackRock. Because the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs, nearly $50 billion have poured into the funding merchandise, in accordance with knowledge from SoSoValue.
In July 2024, BlackRock and different issuers launched ETFs for Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. After which, different issuers filed ETF purposes for a slew of different cryptocurrencies, together with Solana.
“I frankly suppose it could have been tougher with the earlier administration,” stated King, the CEO of REX Monetary.
Now, amid a extra pleasant monetary regime underneath President Donald Trump, analysts anticipate that the SEC will approve most of the purposes to launch cryptocurrency-tied funds.
“We anticipate a wave of latest ETFs on this second half of 2025,” James Seyffart, a analysis analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, stated on X.
