Nasdaq filed a Form 19b-4 on January 16 to list and trade the Litecoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) (LTC) registered by Canary Capital. Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, considers this the first approval of an altcoin-related ETF in 2025.
Following an update to Canary’s Form S-1 filing, Balchunas said its Litecoin ETF “has all the boxes checked.” He added:
“I also see no reason why this would be withdrawn given that the SEC has commented on the S-1, Litecoin is considered a commodity, and there is a new SEC sheriff in town .”
Earlier on January 16, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart highlighted that the amendment to Form S-1 constituted no guarantee of approval. Still, it’s a sign that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is interested in this issue.
After the announcement of the Nasdaq filing, Seyffart declared that it may take a few weeks to confirm the chances of approval, as the SEC has yet to recognize the Litecoin ETF application.
He added that while Solana’s (SOL) recent filings were not recognized, a Litecoin ETF could more likely attract the regulator’s attention. Seyffart reasoned that LTC is not subject to SEC charges that it is a security, which increases its chances.
Litecoin price has soared nearly 24% in the past 24 hours, settling at $129.49 at press time, according to CryptoSlate data. This is the largest daily gain among the 25 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
Wave of approvals
Seyffart and Balchunas predicted a wave of ETF approvals would hit the market in 2025. The products most likely to receive SEC approval were mixed ETFs, following Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
These products received their first approvals in 2024 when the regulator approved filings from Hashdex and Franklin Templeton. The next products in line are Litecoin and Hedera (HBAR), and the prediction is on track.
Funds linked to XRP and SOL are also on the list, although analysts believe they could face delays due to SEC lawsuits that treat these cryptocurrencies as securities.
However, President-elect Donald Trump is would have consider including XRP, SOL and USD Coin (USDC) in the US national reserve. This would favor the chances of approval of XRP and SOL spot ETFs.
