Fidelity Enters SOL ETF Race

Fidelity made a significant move by joining the race for U.S. spot Solana (SOL) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), leaving only BlackRock without a similar application.

On March 25, Fidelity filed a 19b-4 form with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) through the Cboe BZX exchange to launch a spot SOL ETF.

SOL ETF Competition

With BlackRock as the last major player to apply, companies like Grayscale, 21Shares, Bitwise, Canary Capital, and VanEck have already submitted applications. Polymarket indicates an 86% market expectation for approval.

The SEC began reviewing these filings in February when they entered them into the Federal Register, marking the start of a 240-day decision period. As of now, Franklin Templeton’s application hasn’t been acknowledged yet.

Fidelity’s filing followed its establishment of a trust in Delaware on March 20, a strategic move for ETF issuers.

With the recent approval of ETF futures and their debut on CME Futures, SOL emerges as a leading candidate among altcoins. Other altcoins like Litecoin (LTC), Polkadot (DOT), Avalanche (AVAX), Sui (SUI), and Dogecoin (DOGE) are also attracting ETF interest.

Nate Geraci from ETF Store remarked that while the SEC may approve various altcoin ETFs, they are likely to limit the number of altcoin offerings. He expressed optimism for broad crypto exposure ETFs over single crypto ETFs.

In market dynamics, speculators are anticipating a price increase for altcoins. Recently, around $70M in SOL was withdrawn from exchanges in the last week, reflecting bullish sentiment. Coinglass reported over $470M of SOL moved from exchanges within the last three weeks, boosting the altcoin nearly 30% from its March low of $112.

However, SOL must surpass the $150 barrier to continue rising, or short sellers may take control of the market.