The crypto industry is set to debut the first Solana futures exchange-traded fund (ETF), a significant development that may pave the way for the first Solana spot ETF, as the โnext logical stepโ for crypto-based trading products, according to industry watchers.
Volatility Shares is launching two Solana (SOL) futures ETFs, the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), on March 20.
The debut of the first Solana futures ETF may bring significant new institutional adoption for the SOL token, according to Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research.
Volatility Shares Solana ETF SEC filing. Source: SEC
The analyst told Cointelegraph:ย
โThe launch of the first Solana ETFs in the US could significantly boost Solanaโs market position by increasing demand and liquidity for SOL, potentially narrowing the gap with Ethereumโs market cap.โ
The Solana ETF will grow institutional adoption by โoffering a regulated investment vehicle, attracting billions in capital and reinforcing Solanaโs competitiveness against Ethereum,โ said Lee, adding that โEthereumโs entrenched ecosystem remains a formidable barrier.โ
Still, other industry participants are concerned that the Solana futures ETF will lead to investor disappointment due to a lack of inflows, as weโve seen with the spot Ether ETF launch, which was only a โsidekickโ to Bitcoin ETFs in terms of inflows, as predicted by Bloombergโs senior ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas.
Related: Bitcoin beats global assets post-Trump election, despite BTC correction
Solana futures ETF may see disappointing inflows, but spot Solana ETFs may be next
While the futures ETF may not bring significant inflows, it legitimizes Solanaโs status as a top cryptocurrency, especially after US President Donald Trump announced that his Working Group on Digital Assets would include Solana in the US crypto strategic reserve, along with Cardanoโs (ADA) token and XRP (XRP).
โSolana ETFs are in motion creating the possible avenues for more wide-scale adoption,โ according to Anmol Singh, co-founder of Bullet, a Solana-native perpetual futures decentralized exchange.
Singh told Cointelegraph:
โSolana spot ETF is yet to be approved but given the increased awareness around Solana and the Futures ETFs this would be a logical next step.โ
โWe can expect moderate inflows into the futures ETF – spot ETF is generally a better instrument for getting exposure and that will be the major milestone,โ he added.
Related: Trump-linked WLFI triples Ether holdings, Solana sees $485M outflows: Finance Redefined
While the adoption rate of futures ETFs is difficult to measure, a spot Solana ETF may attract between $3 billion to $6 billion of net assets in the first six months, eclipsing the adoption rate of Ether ETFs, according to a JPMorgan report seen by Cointelegraph.
ย SOL and XRP ETPs could attract $3โ8 billion. Source: JP Morgan
โWhen applying these so-called โadoption ratesโ to SOL and XRP, we see SOL attracting roughly $3 billion-$6 billion of net assets and XRP gathering $4 billion-$8 billion in net new assets,โ the report stated.
However, โthe timeline could extend into 2026 due to the SECโs precedent of taking [โฆ] 240โ260 days to review filings,โ James Seyffart, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said on Jan. 16.
Magazine: Memecoins are ded โ But Solana โ100x betterโ despite revenue plunge
