Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) submitted 19b-4 documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, formally requesting approval for the Solana spot ETFs by 21Shares and VanEck. As customary, the SEC will have 240 days from the confirmation of the application to decide whether to approve these investment products.
Rob Marrocco, Head of ETP Listings at CBOE Global Markets, stated that both VanEck and 21Shares have already submitted S-1 documents last month for the launch of Solana spot ETFs. When an entity wishes to issue new securities in the market, it must submit S-1 documents as the first necessary step in the application process. The second necessary step is to submit 19b-4 documents to notify Self-Regulatory Organizations (SROs) such as exchanges of proposed rule changes.
Cboe currently lists 6 out of the existing 10 Bitcoin spot ETFs, including products by Fidelity, Ark/21Shares, and VanEck. If the next 5 Ethereum spot ETF applications are approved, Cboe will also list these Ethereum spot ETFs.
Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas from Bloomberg stated that the final deadline for the approval of Solana spot ETFs should be mid-March 2025, but the most important date before that is the U.S. presidential election in November this year. If the incumbent President Biden wins, these ETFs are likely to be rejected. If President Trump wins, anything is possible.
In addition, Grayscale, which has applied to convert Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) into an Ethereum spot ETF, submitted an application to the SEC in April this year for the issuance of a new Ethereum Mini Trust (Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust, ETH). Grayscale announced today that July 18, 2024, will be the record date for the initial creation of the ETH Mini Trust and the distribution of ETH Mini Trust shares to ETHE shareholders. Grayscale plans to list the ETH Mini Trust on the New York Stock Exchange Arca under the ticker symbol ETH after obtaining regulatory approval.
According to the announcement, in the initial distribution, ETHE will contribute 10% of the Ethereum held at 4:00 pm Eastern Time on the record date to the ETH Mini Trust. Each holder of ETHE shares as of the record date will have the right to receive ETH Mini Trust shares on a 1:1 basis.