Brazil Gets Second Solana-Based ETF Approved, US Lags Behind

Brazil’s securities regulator has approved another Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) this week, marking the second such approval in August.

Per central database of Brazil’s Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), Hashdex, a popular crypto asset manager, is offering the product. Dubbed “Hashdex Nasdaq Solana Index Fund,” the new SOL ETF is still in its pre-operational stage.

Further, the crypto ETF is managed by Hashdedx, in collaboration with a major Brazilian investment bank – BTG Pactual.

On Aug 8, the regulator approved the country’s first Solana ETF offered by asset manager QR Asset. The initial approval consolidates Brazil’s position as a “leading market for regulated investments in crypto assets,” said Theodoro Fleury, CIO of QR Asset.

Further, the Brazilian stock exchange, B3, already offers ETFs and ETF receipts related to crypto assets. In March, B3 started offering BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT).

The country has also debuted Bitcoin futures trading, starting April. Additionally, the exchange aims to meet the growing demand for derivatives that provide a hedge against price fluctuations of the popular crypto.

US Solana ETFs are Very Unlikely to Get Approval: Analyst

Elsewhere in the US, which has already approved spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, VanEck and 21Shares came forward to file for a Solana-based spot ETF in June. The asset managers were aiming to list on the Cboe BZX Exchange despite the SEC classified Solana as a security.

However, both the SOL ETF filings seem to have removed from the Cboe website, sparking speculation among the community.

Despite this, head of digital assets research at VanEck Matthew Sigel, took to Twitter, writing that the Solana ETF application “remains in play.”

On the other hand, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote that the Solana ETFs never made it past step 2 as the SEC “failed to acknowledge them.”

Nice flow chart showing how the Solana ETF filings never made it past Step 2 (the SEC failed to ack them) = DOA. So the exchanges withdrew 19b-4s altho the issuers' S-1s are still active. A snowball's chance in hell of approval unless there's change in leadership via @JSeyff pic.twitter.com/e8BNKT33KH

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) August 20, 2024

In a Tuesday post, he further stressed that a Solana ETF approval is “a snowball’s chance in hell.” He anticipated for a change in leadership for a potential approval in the future. This is because, the SEC under the leadership of Gary Gensler, had pursued enforcement actions against numerous crypto projects and startups.

Balchunas further wrote that there is a “near-zero chance in 2024” for a Solana ETF approval.

“If Harris wins there’s prob near-zero chance in 2025 too. Only hope IMO is if Trump wins.”

Yes, near-zero chance in 2024 and if Harris wins there's prob near-zero chance in 2025 too. Only hope IMO is if Trump wins.

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) August 20, 2024