Since Donald Trump’s election, the clamour for Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval in the United States has gained traction. According to Mathew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital asset research, the industry expects the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to greenlight more crypto-based products before the end of next year.
A New Era for Crypto ETFs
The result of the 2024 US presidential election has rekindled hope in the digital asset space, especially the authorization of crypto-backed ETFs. Accordingly, industry insiders predict that Trump’s election would result in a friendlier regulatory environment for digital assets, which might open the door for the approval of several crypto ETFs that have been waiting for regulatory approval for a long time.
Several asset managers submitted applications to list ETFs for altcoins such as Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP), and Litecoin (LTC), reflecting heightened interest in diversifying the crypto investment market. These filings also included proposals for crypto index exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which aim to expose investors to a wide range of tokens.
However, the current SEC administration has yet to approve any of them. Instead, it has launched over 100 enforcement proceedings against the sector. As the SEC begins reviewing Grayscale’s request to launch an ETF encompassing diverse cryptocurrencies, observers believe the stage is set for significant changes in the crypto landscape.
Potential Leadership Changes
The prospect of new leadership at vital regulatory agencies has further reinforced industry optimism. According to reports, Trump is considering appointing Republican CFTC commissioner Summer Mersinger as the new SEC chair.
The CFTC chair has a reputation for supporting a more accommodative approach to cryptocurrencies, as the chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC is also a top regulator of the cryptocurrency markets in the United States, similar to the SEC. However, it has less authority than the US SEC.
A change in leadership may impact how crypto regulation develops, allowing the operations of other crypto ETFs in addition to Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
Solana Dominates the NFT Market
As the regulatory environment changes, Solana has become a significant player in the non-fungible token (NFT) market. On-chain data shows that the market cap of Solana’s NFT ecosystem soared by $1 billion to $5.94 billion in the last week.
With almost 55% of the market, Solana has surpassed rivals like Polygon and Ethereum regarding daily NFT user engagement. Moreover, Solana has 18,000 daily users, establishing itself as a dominant force in the NFT market, unlike Polygon’s 5,100 and Ethereum’s 3,500.
Furthermore, this ecosystem’s rise has been fuelled by top-performing NFT collections like Mad Lads and SMB Gen 2, while newcomers like Luces have quickly garnered popularity. In addition, data from the NFT analytics platform Cryptoslam shows an 11% increase in total transactions and an 85% increase in NFT sales volume on Solana.
SOL Token Faces Market Fluctuations
Solana’s native coin, SOL, has shown volatility despite its success in the NFT space. Following early gains, SOL’s value dropped 4% daily, indicative of the market’s overall mood.
Even though these swings are expected in the cryptocurrency industry, Solana’s sustained leading position in the NFT market offers a solid basis for SOL’s price uptrend in the near term.
Surge in Malicious Activities on the Solana Network
Nevertheless, the Solana network faces rising threats of phishing scams, with the Backpack Wallet being the prime target. The wallet became the focus of attention after more than 71,000 illegal acts were discovered on the Solana network between June and September 2024.
This number indicates that attackers have exploited over 5% of these wallet owners, losing almost $26.6 million worth of digital assets. In addition, this data highlights a broader pattern of vulnerabilities in the Solana ecosystem’s decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs, where phishing scams and harmful decentralized applications (dApps) continue to target users.
Moreover, the rapid rise in meme coin trade on the Solana network has made malicious actors target users of this network more than those on other networks. Furthermore, the focus on Solana rather than established networks such as Ethereum demonstrates a deliberate shift by hackers looking to exploit user and platform security vulnerabilities.
