U.S. asset manager VanEck filed for a Solana exchange-traded fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday.
The spot SOL ETF application is the first in the U.S.
SOL traded at US$147 at 11:00 a.m. ET, up 7%, according to CoinGecko.
“We think this combination of high throughput, low fees, robust security, and a strong community vibe makes Solana an attractive option for an exchange-traded fund, offering investors exposure to a versatile and innovative open-source ecosystem,” Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck said on X.
The application comes less than a week after 3iQ filed for a similar Solana product in neighboring Canada, and a month after the SEC approved spot Ether ETFs in the U.S.
Following the spot Ether ETF approvals in May, analysts at Bernstein said in a report that Solana could also be classified as a commodity.
The SEC recently dropped its investigation against Ethereum 2.0, which according to Consensys, an Ethereum software firm, means the agency now views the asset as a commodity.
However, the SEC has not officially classified Ether as a commodity or security yet.
In May, the SEC approved the 19b-4 filings for spot Ether ETFs, but the S-1 (registration statement) filings, which are necessary for the launch of these financial products, have not yet been finalized.
Bloomberg ETF expert Eric Balchunas predicts that Ether ETFs could launch on July 2.