Solana futures ETF to grow institutional adoption, despite limited inflows

The crypto industry is set to debut the first Solana futures exchange-traded fund (ETF), a significant development that may pave the way for the first Solana spot ETF as the “next logical step” for crypto-based trading products, according to industry watchers.

Volatility Shares is launching two Solana (SOL) futures ETFs, the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), on March 20.

The debut of the first Solana futures ETF may bring significant new institutional adoption for the SOL token, according to Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research.

Volatility Shares Solana ETF SEC filing. Source: SEC

The analyst told Cointelegraph: 

“The launch of the first Solana ETFs in the US could significantly boost Solana’s market position by increasing demand and liquidity for SOL, potentially narrowing the gap with Ethereum’s market cap.”

The Solana ETF will grow institutional adoption by “offering a regulated investment vehicle, attracting billions in capital and reinforcing Solana’s competitiveness against Ethereum,” said Lee, adding that “Ethereum’s entrenched ecosystem remains a formidable barrier.”

Still, other industry participants are concerned that the Solana futures ETF will lead to investor disappointment due to a lack of inflows, as we’ve seen with the spot Ether (ETH) ETF launch, which was only a “sidekick” to Bitcoin ETFs in terms of inflows, as predicted by Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas.

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SOL futures ETF may disappoint, but spot SOL ETFs may be next

While the futures ETF may not bring significant inflows, it legitimizes Solana’s status as a top cryptocurrency, especially after US President Donald Trump announced that his Working Group on Digital Assets would include Solana in the US crypto strategic reserve, along with Cardano’s ADA (ADA) token and XRP (XRP).

“Solana ETFs are in motion creating the possible avenues for more wide-scale adoption,” according to Anmol Singh, co-founder of Bullet — a Solana-native perpetual futures decentralized exchange.

Singh told Cointelegraph:

“Solana spot ETF is yet to be approved, but given the increased awareness around Solana and the futures ETFs, this would be a logical next step.”

“We can expect moderate inflows into the futures ETF — spot ETF is generally a better instrument for getting exposure, and that will be the major milestone,” he added.

Related: Trump-linked WLFI triples Ether holdings, Solana sees $485M outflows: Finance Redefined

While the adoption rate of futures ETFs is difficult to measure, a spot Solana ETF may attract between $3 billion and $6 billion of net assets in the first six months, eclipsing the adoption rate of Ether ETFs, according to a JPMorgan report seen by Cointelegraph.

 SOL and XRP ETPs could attract $3 billion–$8 billion. Source: JPMorgan

“When applying these so-called “adoption rates” to SOL and XRP, we see SOL attracting roughly $3 billion–$6 billion of net assets and XRP gathering $4 billion–$8 billion in net new assets,” the report stated.

However, “the timeline could extend into 2026 due to the SEC’s precedent of taking […] 240–260 days to review filings,” James Seyffart, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said on Jan. 16.

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