US Solana ETF Hinges On Regulatory “Soft Fork”: VanEck Exec

The recent approval of spot Solana ETF products in Brazil has triggered a reaction from Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s Head of Research. He strongly believes that the United States regulators are focused on less important subjects, which has caused the South American country to overtake it in this regard.

Brazil Beats the US to Spot Solana ETF Approval

Brazil approved spot Solana ETF on Wednesday, making it the first nation to support such an offering.

The SOL ETF move by Brazil regulator prompted experts to speculate that the United States may borrow a leaf and approve the filed applications for the offering. However, Sigel stated that he is embarrassed by the fact that Brazil greenlighted this offering before the US. He made a statement which suggested that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is more focused on cracking down of crypto endeavors than supporting it.

“This admin is winning lawsuits against Big Tech for antitrust, but won’t allow open source alternatives to thrive,” Sigel wrote on X.

The VanEck Executive does not think that “customer welfare” is enough reason for the regulator to delay its approval of spot the ETFs in the region. Noteworthy, VanEck submitted its application to list a SOL ETF over a month ago and 21Shares followed suit a few days after.

Based on the current stance of the SEC, the hope of the digital asset industry is on a potential pro-crypto administration, according to Sigel. He believes that the US regulation landscape needs a “soft fork” to which the White House holds the key.

US SEC Crypto Stance is Likely to Change

Even if it is to gain the favor of crypto voters in the upcoming elections, the SEC may approve the Solana ETFs soon. Plus, deciding to approve spot Bitcoin ETFs in January and later spot Ethereum ETFs in June, is a major pivot for the SEC. The regulator may have truly had change of stance towards cryptocurrencies.

Recently, the Commission decided against arguing that Solana, Cardano and Polygon in Binance lawsuit, are securities. This reflects a step closer to favoring the crypto ecosystem.

The SEC still has other issues to deal with as regards the digital asset sector. Executives from VanEck and Coinbase have raised alarms over the U.S. SEC’s handling of spot Bitcoin ETFs. They particularly highlighted increased borrowing costs as a direct consequence of the regulatory framework.