Solana, XRP ETFs Next? Standard Chartered Sees Possibility After Ethereum Approval

Now that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finally given the go-ahead to spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the regulator might also greenlight other crypto ETFs.

According to British multi-national bank Standard Chartered, Ripple’s XRP and Solana (SOL) could emerge as the next crypto ETF frontiers after ether.

SOL, XRP ETFs “Likely A 2025 Story”

Standard Chartered thinks Solana or XRP could be the next contenders after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved key forms 19b-4 filed by prospective issuers. However, the British banking giant said they don’t believe these SOL and XRP products will happen in 2024.

“For other coins (eg. SOL, XRP), markets will look ahead to their eventual ETF status as well, albeit this is likely a 2025 story, not a 2024 one,” Geoffrey Kendrick, head of forex and digital assets research at Standard Chartered noted. “For now, bitcoin and ether dominance will rise, with selective “next in line” winners as well.”

The SEC yesterday gave the regulatory blessing to eight spot Ethereum ETFs. The move follows the approval of similar spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds back in January. The shocking and historic move means that Ethereum is not categorized as a security by the SEC, thus indicating that other ether-like tokens, which were previously under the regulator’s scrutiny, may not be deemed securities, as per Kendrick.

“In several cases the core technology is so similar to ETH it would be difficult for the SEC to claim they were securities given the ETH position,” Kendrick posited. “The crypto industry now seems to have political backing on both sides of the aisle.”

The SEC chairman Gary Gensler has long maintained that all coins and tokens on the crypto market, besides Bitcoin, are securities, and are thus breaking the law by offering them to US investors. SOL and XRP have previously been named as unregistered securities in different SEC lawsuits.

Gensler had also hinted that Ether’s monumental shift to a proof-of-stake consensus model could transform the second-largest crypto into a security. In fact, one high-profile lawsuit against the SEC even alleged that the SEC was seriously considering designating Ethereum as a security, and not a commodity. 

Standard Chartered described the Thursday approval as a “true watershed moment”, adding that the next question is not whether but when the crypto industry will witness more regulatory changes.

Lofty Price Targets

Standard Chartered reiterated its previous prediction of Ether hitting $8,000 per coin by the end of the year. Analyst Kendrick anticipates the trading of the spot ETH ETFs to start trading next month and sees such funds attracting $15-$45 billion within the first 12 months. 

Notably, the ether ETFs will only start trading after the approval of S-1 registration statements — which have so far only been submitted by a few would-be issuers.

Standard Chartered previously said it sees a $150,000 Bitcoin price tag by year-end. The bank said today that this price was still possible with the continuing massive inflows for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. “A portfolio containing both BTC and ETH ETFs is likely attractive and the industry has been further validated by the SEC’s decision on ETH,” the bank’s researcher summarized.