- US-based Solana ETFs look unlikely to happen in the short term following the removal of 19b-4 filings from the Cboe website, but a VanEck exec says the firm continues to believe SOL is a commodity and is confident SOL ETFs will eventually exist.
- VanEck’s position is based largely on a legal case from 2018 where the CFTC successfully argued that the fraudulent digital token My Big Coin was in fact a commodity.
It looks like there’s no chance of a Solana-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) launching in the US anytime soon after both VanEck and 21Shares had their 19b-4 filings removed from the Cboe website recently, likely due to concerns over Solana’s security status.
But all is not lost!
VanEck’s Head of Digital Asset Research, Matthew Sigel, says his firm still views Solana and many other cryptocurrencies as commodities, and believes if the regulators eventually come to the same view it will make future ETFs much more likely.
Sigel says VanEck’s position is largely based on a crypto fraud case from 2018 in which the Commodity Futures Commission (CFTC) successfully argued that a token known as My Big Coin (MBC) was a commodity—allowing their fraud case against MBC to proceed. Sigel says this same logic could apply to Solana and many other cryptocurrencies, which could form the basis for the future of crypto-based ETF regulation.
Related: VanEck and 21Shares’ Solana ETF Applications on Cboe Found Inaccessible, Are They DOA?
VanEck Committed to Advocating That Solana Is a Commodity, Says Sigel
Posting on X / Twitter, Sigel pointed out that the removal of the 19b-4 filing for VanEck’s Solana ETF doesn’t have anything to do with the firm itself. Sigel says VanEck’s Solana ETF prospectus filing is still active:
Some have noticed that the 19b-4 for the VanEck Solana ETF has been removed from the CBOE website. Remember that Exchanges like Nasdaq & CBOE file rule changes (19b-4) to list new ETFs. Issuers like VanEck are responsible for the prospectus (S-1). Ours remains in play.
Matthew Sigel, VanEck Head of Digital Assets ResearchSigel followed this with a breakdown of why VanEck still believes Solana ETFs are a realistic possibility, emphasising VanEck’s continued belief that Solana is a commodity citing “evolving legal perspectives”, increased decentralisation, and SOL’s utility as the reasons for this belief:
For the record, VanEck believes SOL is a commodity, much like BTC and ETH. This belief is informed by evolving legal perspectives, where courts and regulators have begun to recognize that certain crypto assets may function as securities in primary markets but behave more like commodities in secondary markets… This decentralized infrastructure, combined with SOL’s utility and economic role, aligns it closely with digital commodities like BTC and ETH.
Matthew Sigel, VanEck Head of Digital Assets ResearchSigel added that VanEck is prepared to continue arguing the case that Solana and other cryptocurrencies are commodities, saying the firm remains “committed to advocating this position alongside our exchange partners to the appropriate regulators”.
Precedent Set: Tokens Likened to Natural Gas in Case
To bolster his claim that SOL is a commodity, Sigel pointed to the My Big Coin (MBC) case. In this case the MBC fraudsters actually tried to argue their token wasn’t a commodity so they could escape the jurisdiction of the CFTC. They claimed that because there were no futures contracts specific to MBC it couldn’t be a commodity, but the judge dismissed this argument.
Interestingly, the judge likened digital tokens to natural gas. Sigel explained that the judge found that if there are futures contracts for any natural gas, then all natural gas is considered to be a commodity. He said this same principle applies to digital tokens:
For natural gas, it doesn’t matter if the gas is delivered to different hubs like Henry Hub in Louisiana or elsewhere: if futures contracts exist for one, all types of natural gas are treated as commodities. This same logic could apply to digital assets like Solana, and could shape the future of ETF regulation.
Matthew Sigel, VanEck Head of Digital Assets ResearchRelated: Hashdex Launches Solana ETF in Brazil Amid US Security Speculations
The implication of this case is that any digital token could be classed as a commodity based primarily on its usage and utility, even if it doesn’t have specific futures contracts associated with it. Should this position be widely adopted across the US legal system it could open the floodgates to crypto-based ETFs in the coming years.
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