Fidelity Makes Bold Move into Solana Ecosystem, Files Official ETF Application with SEC

The CBOE BZX Exchange has requested permission from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list a proposed Fidelity exchange-traded fund (ETF) that holds Solana (SOL), according to a March 25 filing.

The SEC approval is pending, but if granted, trading of the Fidelity Solana Fund can commence on CBOE. This comes as the SEC had acknowledged several Solana-based ETF filings from multiple asset managers in February.

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The Solana ETF Race

Investment bank JPMorgan estimated in January that, when compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, SOL ETFs could attract inflows of over US$6B (AU$9.52). This is because there is a growing appetite for Solana-related products —not just SOL futures, which are already trading on the CBOE exchange. 

It should be noted that on March 12, CBOE filed to list another spot Solana ETF, but sponsored by Franklin Templeton. Similarly, asset manager Volatility Shares launched the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT). The latter tracks SOL’s performance with 2x leverage.

Fidelity is now joining 21shares, Canary Capital, Bitwise, VanEck and Grayscale to launch an SOL ETF in the United States. If approved, VanEck analysts estimate that SOL could hit US$520 (AU$824) by 2026.

When it comes to probabilities, analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence give a 70% likelihood that the SEC will approve a spot SOL ETF this year. 

Notably, one of Solana’s biggest rivals, Sui Network (SUI), is also in the ETF game. As Crypto News Australia reported, Canary Capital recently filed with the SEC to launch a Sui ETF, which will allow investors to gain exposure to SUI’s performance.

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