Solana’s ETF Triumph: XRP Left in Dust 🚀💸

In the grand theater of finance, where fortunes rise and fall like the tide, Solana has danced into the spotlight while XRP simulates a dramatic faint. The stage was set not by the clamor of market cap or the whispers of political intrigue, but by the precise mechanics of bureaucratic ballet. Multicoin Capital’s Greg Xethalis, a maestro of legal jargon, unraveled the five acts required for an ETF debut during the SEC’s enforced hiatus-why Bitwise and Canary leapt onto the stage, while XRP’s troupe remains backstage, rehearsing. 🎭

“To command the stage,” Xethalis declaimed, “one must wield a ‘33 Act – Effective Registration Statement on Form S-1. A ‘34 Act – 19b-4 Approval, Trading Rules Letter, Filed Registration Statement on Form 8-A. And fifth, an Exchange willing to whisper your name and let you perform.” He paused, as if savoring the irony. “As a 15-year ETP lawyer, I confess: this is uncharted territory, like a poet reciting haikus in a tax code.”

The Solana Waltz and XRP’s Flat Tire 🕺

The uncharted terrain lies in Section 8(a) of the 1933 Act, where an S-1 may auto-effectively bloom 20 days post-filing, provided no delaying amendment stifles its growth. Xethalis, with the gravitas of a man who’s seen too many coffee-stained contracts, explained the usual ritual: “Issuers file delaying amendments to keep the SEC’s clock from ticking. In ’40 Act land, it’s the BXT amendment; in 1933 Act land, you simply say, ‘Don’t take this effective.’”

Bitwise, however, chose to defy convention. “On Oct 8, they filed SOL sans delaying amendment,” Xethalis wrote, “with comments finalized and an auto-effective date set for Oct 27. The SEC’s staff? On vacation. The exchanges? Ready to play host.” The final act became a question of practice, not law: Would exchanges dare list products auto-effective during a blackout? The NYSE and NASDAQ answered with a resounding “Yes!” 🎉

“BSOL will trade on NYSE tomorrow,” Xethalis declared, “and LTCC and HBR on NASDAQ. This settles months of speculation: Generic Listing Standards obviate bespoke filings, and an auto-effective S-1, paired with a Form 8-A, is sufficient… if an exchange deigns to certify you.”

Solana’s victory, he insists, is not a judgment of merit but of timing and precision. Bitwise’s trust cleared SEC comments, avoided delays, and secured an exchange’s blessing. XRP, meanwhile, remains in limbo, lacking the 8-A and an exchange’s nod. “Grayscale’s Solana Trust will auto-effect tomorrow,” Xethalis noted, “but their 8-A remains incomplete-a tragicomedy of paperwork.”

The CBTS Generic Listing Standards, Xethalis explained, have dissolved the old bottlenecks, shifting the burden to issuers and exchanges. “Once GLS exists,” he mused, “execution becomes a choreography problem. Bitwise and Canary danced first; they lead the encore.”

In this opera of compliance, Solana’s triumph is a masterstroke of timing, while XRP’s delay is a bureaucratic hiccup, not a death knell. At press time, XRP traded at $2.62-a price that suggests either optimism or a stubborn refusal to accept reality. 📉

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2025-10-28 16:40