Fidelity Investments has officially filed an application to launch a Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) through the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE).
The ETF is meant to track the SOL price performance through the Fidelity Solana Reference Rate, adjusted for expenses and liabilities, following the company’s recent incorporation of the Solana Fund in Delaware.
Rising Institutional Demand for Solana
In addition to its cost-effective ability to manage hundreds of transactions per second, Solana also enables DeFi protocols, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and distributed apps (dApps), making it ideal for investors and developers.
Moreover, the ecosystem has drawn increasing institutional interest, including additional institutional applications such as Grayscale and VanEck. However, Fidelity’s extensive asset base and strong track record with crypto ETFs lend it significant credibility.
For instance, its Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have already gathered $11.4 billion and $1.4 billion in holdings, respectively.
Driven by this application, other significant asset managers, like BlackRock, might follow suit, boosting the price of Solana and acceptance and potentially pushing it to new highs.
Optimistically, analysts at Bloomberg predict a 70% likelihood that such an approval could happen by October 2025, partly influenced by Fidelity’s application.
Way Forward
While Fidelity’s ETF filing is promising, there are hurdles typical of crypto-related filings. For instance, the SEC must assess whether adequate safeguards against fraud and manipulation in SOL markets are in place. Historically, this key concern has delayed approvals for similar products.
However, recent approvals for Bitcoin- and Ethereum-based commodity trust shares suggest regulators may be more open to approving crypto ETFs. Additionally, Cboe has emphasized that “other means” of surveillance can adequately protect investors without requiring agreements with regulated markets of significant size.
If approved after the application’s 240-day review period, this ETF could lead to additional spot crypto ETFs focused on assets like Cardano or Polkadot.
READ MORE: Cardano Gains 10% Weekly: Can It Break Out Toward $1.30?
