Despite the government shutdown in the US, several new cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are expected to launch this week.
According to information provided by sources close to the matter, the Canary Litecoin ETF, Canary HBAR ETF and Grayscale Solana Trust ETF are planned to be launched this week.
This development follows new guidance released by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 9th. In this guidance, released a week after the government shutdown, the SEC announced that companies seeking to go public could submit S-1 registration statements without a delaying amendment. Normally, this change would have prevented filings from becoming effective within 20 days, allowing time for the SEC’s comment and approval process.
With the new regulation, companies can directly launch their ETFs after the 20-day period if they are confident in their applications. However, this poses a risk of lawsuits from investors if any incorrect or incomplete filings are found that the SEC overlooks.
Several regulations approved by the SEC before the shutdown expedited the process for crypto ETF applications. The agency approved a rule change regarding the listing and trading of commodity-based trust shares, at the request of three exchanges. This approval has now paved the way for many crypto ETF applications to begin trading more quickly without having to go through the 19b-4 process.
According to sources, Canary Capital filed two separate Form 8-A filings for Litecoin and HBAR earlier this week. These filings allow for the listing of the respective S-1s on the exchange.
Additionally, Multicoin Capital partner Kyle Samani announced the launch of the Bitwise SOL Staking ETF on the X (formerly Twitter) platform; however, the post was deleted shortly after.
Experts are cautious about whether there will be a wave of crypto ETF launches this week. A source familiar with the process said, “The SEC may not be at the same level with other assets. Therefore, this week’s action may be limited to certain ETFs.”