TradFi giants rush to get on board, which AltCoin ETFs will take over the listing?

Source: Decrypt

Original author: Liz Napolitano

The approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in the United States last year is just the beginning: major issuers are planning to launch a variety of US funds that directly track the prices of multiple cryptocurrencies including Dogecoin, Solana, XRP, and even TRUMP coin.

Recently, the traditional financial giant Franklin Templeton (Franklin Templeton) submitted a proposal for XRP spot ETF, which is undoubtedly an important signal in the cryptocurrency ETF field. Although Grayscale, Bitwise, WisdomTree and other native cryptocurrency institutions have previously submitted similar applications, Franklin Templeton's entry marks the official entry of traditional financial giants into this emerging field.

Franklin Templeton is a fund giant managing around $1.5 trillion in assets, massive in scale. Although not as influential as BlackRock, its presence is still considerable. In comparison, BlackRock has not yet entered the competition of Shiba Inu ETFs.

Franklin Templeton's Quantitative Investment Solutions Director Roger Bayston said in December last year that the ETF legal team will be exceptionally busy in the first half of 2025. The company launched a cryptocurrency index fund last month (currently limited to holding BTC and ETH) and has applied for a Solana ETF.

Here is a list of possible cryptocurrency ETF products that may be launched in the United States.

Solana ETF

Spot Solana exchange traded fund (ETF) may be a potential alternative to Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

The proposed funds include VanEck Solana Trust, 21Shares Core Solana ETF, Canary Solana ETF, and Bitwise Solana ETF, which will directly track the price of Solana.

Franklin Templeton submitted an S-1 registration statement in February, and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) submitted a listing rule change application on behalf of Franklin Templeton in March.

In addition, some proposed Solana futures ETFs (such as ProShares Short Solana, ProShares 2x Solana, and Vol Shares Solana ETF) will allow investors to make more complex bets on the price movements of Solana.

However, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said that the spot and futures Solana ETFs may not start trading in the United States until 2026, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) still needs to evaluate a batch of spot Solana ETF applications. The SEC recognized Grayscale's Solana ETF application on February 6 and is soliciting public comments on the application, with one analyst calling it a sign that the agency is entering a "new field".

The SEC typically takes 240 to 260 days to make a decision, but the litigation over whether Solana is a security may prolong this process. Nonetheless, if the spot Solana ETF is approved, the attracted investment funds could be very substantial. JPMorgan analysts predict that the Solana ETF could bring in $4 billion to $8 billion of investment.

Dogecoin ETF

Some issuers have expressed plans to launch a spot Dogecoin ETF.

Rex Shares applied to launch the Rex-Osprey DOGE ETF in January, while Bitwise Asset Management also registered a Dogecoin ETF entity in Delaware. In addition, cryptocurrency investment firm Grayscale also plans to launch a Dogecoin ETF and launched a Dogecoin Trust Fund at the end of January, followed by submitting an application to convert it into an ETF.

The SEC admitted Grayscale's application in February, but postponed the decision in March, extending the deadline for the final decision to May 21st.

Bloomberg's senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said in January that theoretically, a spot Dogecoin ETF could be launched as early as April, depending on a rule that allows federal regulators to weigh investment product proposals in a fast 75-day timeframe, rather than the usual eight to nine months of review period.

XRP ETF

Funds related to Ripple's XRP (such as Rex-Osprey XRP ETF, Canary XRP ETF, and 21Shares Core XRP Trust) are under review.

In early February, the Chicago Cboe Exchange applied to federal regulators to list and trade four types of spot XRP ETFs, showing an increasingly growing interest from investors in funds tracking Ripple Labs' cryptographic assets. Franklin Templeton also joined this lineup in March.

The SEC acknowledged multiple XRP ETF applications at the end of February and stated that it would submit comments within 21 days. If the XRP ETF is approved, JPMorgan analysts estimate that these funds could bring in investments of 30 billion to 60 billion US dollars.

In addition, XRP futures ETFs (such as ProShares Short XRP and ProShares 2x XRP) are also under consideration, the former allowing investors to short XRP, while the latter enables investors to leverage bets on the future price trend of XRP.

Bitcoin Plus ETF

Trump Media and Technology Group's Truth.Fi has applied to register trademarks for two 'Bitcoin Plus' products, namely Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus ETF and Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus SMA. It is currently unclear what assets these ETFs will hold.

Cryptocurrency Index ETF

Franklin Templeton submitted a revised application in early February, planning to launch the 'Franklin Cryptocurrency Index ETF.' The ETF will track the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum, with weights of 86.31% and 13.69% respectively, and may also include other cryptocurrencies in the future.

Aptos ETF

Cryptocurrency asset management company Bitwise submitted an S-1 filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission in early March, planning to launch an ETF tracking the price of Aptos (APT).

Sui ETF

Canary Capital submitted a trust application in early March to launch an ETF based on Sui.

Movement ETF

Rex Shares and Osprey Funds submitted applications in early March to launch an ETF tracking the native token MOVE of Movement Network.

HBAR ETF

Canary Capital submitted the first HBAR ETF application in November last year. HBAR is the native cryptocurrency of the Hedera network.

Litecoin ETF

After Trump took office, a series of Litecoin ETF applications were submitted. CoinShares submitted two registration statements for 'CoinShares Litecoin ETF' and 'CoinShares XRP ETF,' respectively. The New York Stock Exchange also indicated that Grayscale is trying to convert its existing Litecoin Trust into an ETF.

The new application was submitted to Canary Capital approximately two months after its Litecoin ETF application, as well as a few days after Canary submitted its fund application amendment.

Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas believes that similar to the spot HBAR ETF, Canary Capital's Litecoin ETF may be approved earlier than funds based on Dogecoin, XRP, and Solana because Litecoin's regulatory status is less controversial than other coins like Solana.

BONK, TRUMP ETF

Rex Shares submitted an application to federal regulators in January, planning to launch spot TRUMP and BONK coin ETFs.

Summary

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Seyffart pointed out that before SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, nominated by Trump, is confirmed by Congress, the SEC is unlikely to make a decision on these applications, and no confirmation hearing for Atkins has been scheduled. In addition, the approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs has taken several years, and the SEC has previously considered the maturity of the relevant asset futures market as an important approval criterion, which is not currently met by the pending ETF applications.

However, analysts speculate that the likelihood of Litecoin ETF being listed by the end of this year is the highest (90%), higher than Dogecoin (75%), Solana (70%), and XRP products (65%). However, the final result still depends on the confirmation of the new leader and their policy direction.