The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to be setting the stage for a new wave of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), this time focused on altcoins. Analysts suggest that this could open the door for a variety of digital assets to be traded as ETFs.
Bloomberg’s James Seyffart has identified several tokens that could be prime candidates, including Chainlink (LINK), Stellar (XLM), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Avalanche (AVAX), Litecoin (LTC), and Polkadot (DOT). Other highly-traded cryptocurrencies like Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Ripple’s XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), and Shiba Inu (SHIB) are also considered strong contenders due to their high liquidity and established derivatives markets.
While Bitcoin and Ethereum are expected to remain the dominant players in the ETF space, Ethereum’s own ETF launch earlier in mid-2024 faced challenges with weaker-than-expected inflows. This was partly because financial advisors were still getting comfortable with the Bitcoin ETFs, and the Ethereum funds lacked staking features. However, many believe that investor interest will grow once staking is integrated into these ETF structures.
The first altcoin ETFs are expected to focus on well-known names like Solana, XRP, and Cardano, with diversified “basket” products to follow. Although demand for these funds may vary, their approval would be a significant milestone, solidifying altcoins as a mainstream financial tool on Wall Street. The conversation has now shifted from whether altcoin ETFs will be approved to which tokens will be the first to market.
September 2025, Cryptoniteuae
