Solana ETFs Eligible for Approval by September 17 Under Cboe’s Proposed Listing Requirements

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) has filed to standardize crypto asset ETPs, with NASDAQ and NYSE expected to make similar moves in the near future.

If accepted, the new requirements are expected to streamline the filing process and could earmark Solana ETFs for approval by September 17.

What are Cboe’s proposed requirements, and why are Bloomberg analysts certain these standards are “what we’ve been looking for?”

Six Months of Futures Trading Required for New ETFs

In a filing dated 30th of July, Cboe proposes a critical change to the way crypto asset ETF filings are processed by the SEC. According to Cboe’s official filing, the new rule seeks to allow an issuer’s shares to be listed if the underlying commodity has been made available to trade on a U.S. exchange via a futures contract for at least 6 months.

Bloomberg ETF Analyst James Seyfartt asserted that the ruling would mean the SEC effectively “outsourced the decision making for which digital assets will be allowed in an ETF wrapper.” By standardizing the pathway for prospective crypto ETF issuers, the SEC would be shifting the onus instead onto the CTFC, who approves the listing of futures contracts. 

Multicoin Capital General Counsel Greg Xethalis opined that the new ruling also includes language that supports the inclusion of staking in future crypto ETFs. Specifically, the proposal requires that issuers have written liquidity risk policies and procedures if less than 85% of its assets are readily available for redemption. 

Given that natively-staked $SOL has a 2-3 day unstaking period, this measure theoretically means that investors are protected against illiquid redemption concerns.

The ruling arguably favors staking providers like Marinade Finance, which plans to offer instant unstaking on native $SOL and could become a critical part of liquidity risk policies.

$SOL ETF Approvals in September?

Cboe’s filing is expected to be submitted to the Federal Register this week, after which it will enter a 21-day comment and review period. If approved, the proposed rule change would set a clear timeframe within which we might see Solana ETF approvals. 

Under the new ruling, the underlying assets held in prospective crypto ETFs would need to have been available in futures contracts for 6 months before getting the greenlight for approvals. This would place the earliest possible Solana ETF listing on September 17, six months after SOL futures contracts went live on March 17.

Currently, the SEC’s soft deadline for Solana ETF approvals is set for October 10. Should Cboe’s filing be accepted by the SEC, it becomes likely that the nine prospective Solana ETFs could be approved and sometime between September 17 and October 10, 2025.

Solana Heavyweights Champion LSTs

With concerns surrounding liquidity and redemption evidently on lawmakers' minds, a group of prominent figures across the Solana ecosystem submitted a public letter to the SEC arguing the case for LSTs.

LSTs, or Liquid Staking Tokens, enable holders to receive staking rewards without sacrificing the risk that comes from unstaking periods. If Cboe's proposed rule change is approved, LSTs like $jitoSOL could offer a convenient solution to the requirement of having 85% of assets available for redemption.

$jitoSOL, Solana's largest LST by market cap, is currently used as part of REX-Osprey's Solana Staking ETF, $SSK.

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