- After the SEC’s approval of Grayscale crypto index ETF, Bitwise could be next.
- Individual ETF greenlight for XRP, SOL, and ADA expectations remain high.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finally approved the first crypto index ETF (exchange-traded fund) tracking more altcoins beyond Bitcoin [BTC] and Ethereum [ETH].
On the 1st of July, the agency greenlighted the conversion of Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) into a multi-crypto asset spot fund.
The crypto index fund will list on NYSE Arca and includes BTC, ETH, XRP, Solana [SOL], and Cardano [ADA]. Currently, GDLC has $754 million of assets under management (AUM).
More altcoin SEC ETF approval on the way?
Now, like the S&P 500 Index (SPX), one can get an exposure to multiple top crypto assets via a single ETF wrapper. Grayscale initially filed for this crypto index fund conversion in November 2024.
Although the agency delayed its decision on the product in the past, the final deadline was on 2nd July. Hence, the approval wasn’t surprising, noted Bloomberg senior ETF analyst James Seyffart.
Seyffart added that Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW) could be next in line for approval ahead of its deadline on the 31st of July.
“Approval was our expectation. The fund is over 90% Bitcoin and Ethereum. The next big date is Bitwise’s BITW deadline of July 31. But SEC could obviously go early…”
Source: Bloomberg
In June, Bloomberg analysts raised their approval odds for altcoins and crypto index ETFs to over 90%.
For his part, ETFStore’s Nate Geraci viewed the Grayscale crypto index ETF update as a step towards individual approval for XRP, SOL, and ADA ETFs.
“XRP, SOL & ADA will now be available in ‘33 Act ETF wrapper…See where this is all heading? Individual spot XRP, SOL, ADA, etc, ETFs up next.”
On the market front, XRP whale wallets with 1 million to 100 million tokens remained flat after massive accumulation in June.
However, the 100M-1 billion whale wallet offloaded over 400 million XRP tokens in the past 24 hours, and was responsible for this week’s 6% price dump.
Source: Santiment (XRP whale wallets)
For ADA, all the top three whale wallets with one million to one billion ADA tokens have been accumulating since mid-June.
This suggested they were confident of a potential future rally, perhaps front-running a likely ETF approval?
Source: Santiment (ADA whale wallets)
The crypto ETF summer is here, despite a sluggish start in Q3. The SEC has already signed off SOL ETF with staking and crypto index ETFs as focus turns to individual SOL, XRP, and ADA approvals.
Going by XRP and ADA whale positioning, the market appears positive about the ETF prospects.
