Solana (SOL) might be the next blockchain to receive its own spot ETF in the U.S., Pantera Capital says in its February 2025 Blockchain Letter issue. Increased developer and economic activity, rapid ecosystem growth and SOL price's robust performance contributed to this optimism.
Solana ETF: Here's why top VC firm Pantera Capital is optimistic
Solana (SOL), the fifth largest altcoin, is among the most likely next cryptocurrencies to have a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) green-lit in the U.S. Such conclusion was made by Cosmo Jiang, General Partner, and Eric Wallach, Investment Analyst of leading crypto VC Pantera Capital in their Headwinds Becoming Tailwinds report of February 2025.
According to them, Solana (SOL) evolved into a dominant smart contracts platform since it became the leader in attracting new developers, processed the largest volume of DEX trading and started surpassing Ethereum (ETH) in generated fees.
In the DEXes vertical, Solana's flagship product Raydium (RAY) surpassed Uniswap (UNI), a dominant EVM DEX, by 30% in trading volume for two months in a row.
Pump.fun mania contributed to Solana's (SOL) leadership in new tokens creation: In Q4, 2024, over 90% of new tokens appeared on this blockchain. Solana (SOL) welcomed the largest number of AI agent tokens and DeSci cryptocurrencies.
In terms of developer adoption, Solana (SOL) steals the spotlight: It onboarded 7,625 new developers in 2024 compared to Ethereum's 6,456 devs.
XRP, DOGE, ADA, LTC: Altcoin ETF race accelerates
Also, Solana (SOL) generated 37% more revenue (transaction fees + MEV tips) compared to its oldest rival Ethereum (ETH). In 2024, Solana (SOL) raised a whopping $5 billion in revenue.
Pantera Capital recalls that the U.S. SEC has to announce its final verdict on four potential Solana ETFs — by Bitwise, Canary, Grayscale and VanEck — by March 15, 2025.
As covered by U.Today previously, more and more experts foresee that new altcoin ETFs will be approved in 2025.
Alex DovbnyaXRP, Litecoin (LTC), Cardano (ADA) and Dogecoin (DOGE) are regularly named among the top candidates for the next listing.
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