Coinbase mentioned on Tuesday that its derivatives trade now provides futures contracts for Solana (SOL) and Hedera (HBAR), increasing its suite of merchandise to cowl extra cryptocurrencies with pending purposes for spot ETFs within the U.S.
Regulated by the CFTC, Coinbase mentioned in a weblog publish that the trade’s derivatives arm now provides futures contracts for 19 complete belongings, together with Dogecoin, Litecoin and gold, amongst different altcoins.
Solana, Hedera, Dogecoin, and Litecoin are a part of an rising race by crypto and extra conventional monetary providers companies to handle hovering demand for crypto-focused funding merchandise. In current weeks, these firms have submitted a flurry of purposes for spot crypto ETFs, a results of the extra crypto-friendly insurance policies of the brand new Trump administration.
Final week, the Securities and Alternate Fee started weighing purposes for Solana ETFs. The filings may develop buyers’ choices on each a retail and institutional stage, past Bitcoin and Ethereum within the U.S.
The SEC’s deadline for these purposes may be prolonged as much as 240 days. Nonetheless, the regulator’s timeline begins with a 21-day evaluation interval, which means it might conclude subsequent month.
The hyperlink between Coinbase’s new futures contracts and the CFTC is notable. In a 2023 lawsuit in opposition to Coinbase, the SEC alleged that Solana traded on its platform as a safety, which must be topic to the SEC’s guidelines and disclosure regime.
With the resignation of former SEC Chair and crypto skeptic Gary Gensler, the SEC is now reconsidering its method to the digital belongings business. The lawsuit in opposition to Coinbase has been frozen till the next courtroom can weigh in amid conflicting rulings on digital belongings, whereas the SEC has vowed to work towards clear crypto guidelines with the CFTC beneath new management.
Coinbase’s capacity to supply regulated futures merchandise for Solana might bear on the company’s resolution. In approving spot Ethereum and Bitcoin ETFs, the SEC has weighed the presence of a regulated futures market to handle fraud and market manipulation issues.
“All commodity-based ETPs, [or] exchange-traded merchandise, have had a regulated futures market,” Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan instructed Decrypt earlier this month.
With the SEC shifting its method to crypto, regulated Solana futures within the U.S. might not change a lot, based on Gabe Shelby, head of analysis at CF benchmarks.
The agency gives reference charges underpinning Bitcoin and Ethereum derivatives on CFTC-regulated venues just like the Chicago Mercantile Alternate, and Shelby instructed Decrypt the SEC’s framework for approving crypto-focused ETFs might change.
“It’s totally doubtless that we get to some extent the place a regulated futures market is not completely essential to launch extra tokens,” he mentioned. “That is an actual risk with this new regime.”
Edited by James Rubin
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