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Sujha Sundararajan
Author
Sujha Sundararajan
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially acknowledged Canary Capital’s 19b-4 application for spot Litecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
This marks it the first altcoin 19b-4 to be acknowledged, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, wrote on X. The other applications were told to withdraw by the SEC under Gary Gensler.
This means that Canary Capital’s altcoin ETF is the first after Ethereum to receive this nod, locking the regulator into a 240-day deadline to either approve or reject it.
“Throw in the comments from SEC on the S-1 and this filing is by far the furthest along checking all the boxes.”
The ETF analyst has questioned whether the Commission will use the entire 240-day review period or “approve more rapidly.”
Further, the regulator has opened public feedback window, where public can submit their opinions on the spot Litecoin ETF through designated channels.
The gesture from the Commission marks a positive signal, however, it is yet to address most of altcoin ETFs applications. Following Gary Gensler’s resignation, the SEC received around 33 crypto ETF applications barely 24 hours after Trump’s inaugural ceremony.
Canary Capital filed an amended S-1 registration statement for Litecoin ETF last week, prompting Eric Balchunas to predict that this is “most likely to be the next coin approved.”
Besides, the ETF acknowledgement from the SEC has driven Litecoin’s price by 12%. The altcoin is currently trading at $125.39 at press time, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Why Litecoin ETF Has More Scope to Get Approved?
Litecoin, often called the “digital silver” to Bitcoin’s “gold,” has often attracted investors with its faster transactions, lower fees, and a scalable ecosystem.
Having similarities to Bitcoin’s structure, as Litecoin is a Bitcoin fork, the SEC has never declared it a security when compared to larger cryptos including Ripple (XRP) and Solana (SOL).
Additionally, the Exchange Act Rule 19b-4 forces the regulator to either approve or reject the Litecoin ETF. The process takes a closer look into market impacts, making sure there are proper operational guardrails before moving ahead with a listing.
Balchunas predicted in December that this year, there would be a wave of crypto ETFs, “albeit not all at once.”
“First out is likely the bitcoin and ether combo ETFs, then probably Litecoin (because it’s a fork of Bitcoin = commodity), then HBAR (because not labeled security) and then XRP/Solana (which have been labeled securities in pending lawsuits).”
