Asset manager VanEck has filed the first Solana (SOL) trust application in the United States, according to an S-1 form submitted to the SEC. Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets at VanEck, praised the network and described SOL as a commodity. According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, the filing aims to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Named the VanEck Solana Trust, this filing comes after the launch of the asset manager's spot Bitcoin ETF in Australia. VanEck is also among the asset management companies that have received the green light from the US regulator to launch a spot Ethereum ETF and are now awaiting approval to start trading.
Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, explained the reasons for this listing on X. He praised Solana's high performance and even shared the asset management company's belief that SOL is a commodity.
“Functioning like a unique global state machine without partitioning or layer 2, the unique combination of scalability, speed and low costs of the Solana blockchain can offer a better user experience for many use cases,” said Sigel.
He then added that SOL “functions similarly to other digital products such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is used to pay transaction fees and computing services on the blockchain. Like ether on the Ethereum network, SOL can be exchanged on digital asset platforms or used in peer-to-peer transactions.”
It should be noted that the S-1 form is an initial registration required by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before a security can be traded on the stock exchange.
Additionally, Sigel describes Solana as decentralised, estimating that the transaction validation and record-keeping infrastructure is collectively maintained by a diverse user base comprising many independent validators distributed worldwide.
“The decentralised nature of SOL, its great utility, and economic feasibility match the characteristics of other established digital products, reinforcing our belief that SOL can be a valuable product with use cases for investors, builders, and entrepreneurs seeking alternatives to the app store duopoly.”
