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The move aims to improve investor access to Solana (SOL) by allowing shares of the trust to trade as an ETF on a regulated exchange, according to a 19b-4 document submitted Tuesday.
Grayscale, which currently operates the trust as an over-the-counter product, said the ETF conversion would enhance SOL's price tracking and eliminate inefficiencies caused by its unlisted structure.
Grayscale's filing is the latest of several requests by crypto asset managers to offer spot Solana ETFs in the U.S., shortly after the re-election of pro-crypto U.S. President-elect Donald Trump last month reignited investors’ interest in digital assets.
VanEck and 21Shares filed to issue spot Solana ETFs last summer, while Canary Capital applied to launch a Solana-based ETF in October. Meanwhile, Bitwise Asset Management made moves toward applying for a spot Solana ETF last month.
An ETF is a type of financial instrument that allows for the tracking of a particular asset's price by holding that asset in reserve. A spot Solana ETF would allow institutional and retail investors to gain exposure to Solana without requiring them to hold the token themselves.
Grayscale said its Solana Trust manages $134.2 million in assets, representing 0.1% of all SOL in circulation, per the document. The trust’s shares are currently traded under the ticker symbol “GSOL” on OTC markets.
Still, Grayscale expects the ETF listing to increase liquidity and align the trust with other mainstream financial products, it said. It follows Grayscale's successful conversion of its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin ETF in January, followed by its Ethereum Trust (ETHE) into a spot Ethereum ETF in July.
Crypto-based spot ETFs have gained traction in recent months amid a shift in regulators’ attitudes toward digital assets in the U.S., with spot Bitcoin ETFs and their Ether-based counterparts gaining approval to trade earlier this year.
Those developments have fueled investors’ hopes that spot Solana ETFs could soon clinch federal regulatory approval to begin trading in the U.S. as well.
Also adding to investors' optimism on the likelihood of spot Solana ETF approvals are rumors that crypto-friendly former regulator Paul Atkin is Trump's favorite to chair the SEC. Politico first reported the news last week.
Solana is trading 5% higher on the day to $235, CoinGecko data shows.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair