Solana's first U.S. spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) sol$199,18Hedera (HBAR), LTC$99,04 began trading on Tuesday, opening new doors for investors seeking regulated exposure to crypto assets beyond Bitcoin and Ether.
If early momentum can be maintained, Solana's ETF alone could raise more than $3 billion in the first 12 to 18 months, according to James Seifert, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
“A good framework is to look at the size of Solana in relation to Bitcoin and Ethereum,” Seifert said. “Solana's market cap is 5% of Bitcoin and 22% of Ethereum. If they can maintain the flows we've seen with the ETH and BTC ETFs on a relative basis, that would equate to over $3 billion in flows in the first 12-18 months. But only time will tell if they can achieve that.”
The Bitwise Solana ETF (BSOL) posted $10 million in trading volume in its first 30 minutes on the New York Stock Exchange, according to Eric Balchunas of Bloomberg Intelligence. On Nasdaq, Canary Capital's Hedera ETF (HBR) and Litecoin ETF (LTCC) hit $4 million and $400,000, respectively.
Balciunas expects BSOL's volume to reach $52 million by the end of the day, with HBR and LTCC reaching $8 million and $7 million.
The Fund was established under the Securities Act of 1933, a regulatory structure commonly used for commodity-based ETFs. Unlike funds managed under the Investment Company Act of 1940, '33 Act products do not require a board of directors or daily portfolio disclosures, making them the preferred format for single-asset crypto ETFs.
CoinDesk Indices provides price benchmarks for both HBR and LTCC.
For comparison, the Spot Bitcoin ETF delivered $628 million in flows on its first day across multiple issuers. Spot Ether ETF totaled $106 million. Tuesday's launch had only one issuer per asset, but Grayscale's Solana Trust, which the company has applied to convert into an ETF, is scheduled to begin trading on Wednesday.
Looking at the potential demand for HBAR and LTC, Seifert added, “HBAR's market cap is about 8% of Solana, whereas Litecoin is 7% of Solana. So it's probably going to be much smaller. Again, time will tell.”
