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Litecoin and solana ETFs have the best chance of approval, Bloomberg says

Even as the SEC delayed decisions on several crypto ETFs this week, odds are still high that new altcoin ETFs will eventually be approved.

The race to launch altcoin and meme coin spot ETFs is heating up, with a mind-blowing 72 filings so far, including ones for dogecoin, XRP, and trump. However, not all of these have an equal chance of approval.

Bloomberg Intelligence’s James Seyffart estimates the likelihood of a litecoin ETF or Solana ETF approval at 90%. Grayscale, Bitwise, and Franklin Templeton are among the firms awaiting decisions on funds tied to these assets. Interestingly, solana is the sixth-largest crypto by market cap, at $75.6 billion, while litecoin is a distant 24th with a $6.36 billion market cap. 

Seyffart puts the odds for an XRP ETF at 85%, though a report from Kaiko Research put it at the front of the crypto ETF race.

Finally, both dogecoin and hedera ETFs have an 80% chance of being approved, while the odds for avalanche, cardano, and polkadot ETFs are all at 75%.  

Earlier this month, Canada approved a solana spot ETF, making it the first country to do so. Canada was also the first to approve spot bitcoin ETFs.

Alexander Blume, CEO of Two Prime, said that while most applications, from XRP to dogecoin, will find their way to approval thanks to the crypto-friendly new administration, he strongly doubts their influence will be anything near that of bitcoin.

“These assets are highly speculative and have no real value. Institutional investors won’t be easily fooled by the ETF wrapper,” he said.

To put these new filings into perspective, the SEC approved bitcoin ETFs just over a year ago, in January 2024. Bitcoin spot ETFs have experienced significant success and just had their best week since December, with inflows totaling a whopping $3.2 billion.

Earlier this week, the Nasdaq exchange filed form 19b-4 with the SEC to list and trade the 21Shares dogecoin ETF. House of Doge, the corporate arm of the Dogecoin Foundation, filed for a dogecoin ETF with the SEC in tandem with 21Shares earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the SEC delayed several ETF decisions this week, including those for XRP, dogecoin, polkadot, and solana ETFs. The commission also delayed its decision on whether it would permit staking (locking up coins and earning rewards in return for helping to secure the blockchain) for the Franklin Templeton ethereum ETF.

“The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein,” it said in the filing. The new date for next steps is June 15, while most final deadlines for approvals will be due in October.

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Ethereum struggles to hold market gains

After rallying from $1,830 to above $2,100 on Wednesday, ethereum struggled to hold on to its gains and dipped under $2,000, a round psychological price level, on Thursday. 

The seesaw price action helped liquidate $146 million worth of leveraged long and short positions on ethereum in the last 24 hours, data from CoinGlass shows.  

While ethereum was due for a relief rally after entering into oversold conditions as measured by its relative strength index, some are still maintaining a bearish sentiment, according to Delphi Digital analyst Simon Shockey.

With ethereum now trading under $2,000, Shockey called the rally “unconvincing.” He told Sherwood News that he doesn’t “think most crypto natives are compelled to really believe the lows are in,” adding that he could see ethereum fall further from here and make new lows in the second half of the year. 

The price action comes as cofounder Vitalik Buterin has sold $35 million worth of ethereum tokens since the start of February and the paper loss for the largest ethereum treasury firm, BitMine Immersion Technologies, has climbed to nearly $7.9 billion

On the positive side, ethereum developers introduced a new road map that involves seven hard fork upgrades by 2029 and several north stars, one of which aims to make ethereum a “post quantum” layer 1 network.

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Crypto industry sees relief bounce in midst of winter

Crypto assets and crypto-adjacent companies are catching a bid and rebounding off recent lows, with stablecoin issuer Circle soaring after reporting strong earnings before the bell. The company beat on revenue and reported that USDC in circulation has grown to $75.3 billion, up 72% year over year.

The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has increased 4.5% in the last 24 hours, and both tokens and companies close to crypto are enjoying a boost:

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

Despite the relief bounce, some are still uneasy. “The whole market still seems very heavy to me,” Glenn Rosenberg, managing partner at Persistent Trading, told Sherwood News. “Jokingly, BTC feels like it’s now 100% correlated to any asset or news that’s negative! I think we test 60,000 — that’s a big long-term channel and could push lower from there,” he said. “The whole [space] looks risky right now.”

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