"Crypto Titans Push SEC for Altcoin ETF Flood on Wall Street"

Crypto industry leaders and traditional finance heavyweights are pushing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revamp its ETF policies, aiming to allow a broader range of altcoin and meme coin-related products to flood Wall Street. During a closed-door meeting with the SEC's new crypto task force on Friday, representatives from several digital asset-involved firms, including Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, and Fidelity, pressed the regulator to overhaul its ETF policies, according to publicly filed meeting notes.

The companies, all members of the Crypto Council for Innovation, an industry lobbying group, have asked the SEC to expand its current ETF-related standards. Currently, only crypto assets traded in markets regulated by the SEC or CFTC, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, are eligible to be traded on Wall Street via ETFs. However, the companies have now asked the agency to expand the concept of a regulated market to include a "range of existing crypto trading platforms." This minor shift in language could have significant implications, effectively fast-tracking any crypto asset traded on platforms like Coinbase for ETF approval.

If the powerful firms that met with the SEC last week get their wish, we could soon see not only spot Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin ETFs proliferating on Wall Street, but also products related to meme coins and other altcoins. The memo submitted Friday acknowledged that such a change could usher in "a new wave" of crypto ETFs for retail traders, effectively integrating the volatile meme coin sector with the traditional American economy.

In addition to expanding ETF eligibility, the Crypto Council for Innovation also requested that the SEC allow ETF issuers to directly purchase and sell crypto, participate in staking digital assets, and earn staking rewards. Currently, crypto ETF issuers like Fidelity and BlackRock do not custody the BTC and ETH tied to their products, nor do they generate valuable yield from staking that ETH.

A day prior to the Crypto Council for Innovation's meeting with the SEC, Fidelity also met one-on-one with the agency's crypto task force. During that conversation, the two parties reportedly discussed standardizing rules for listing crypto ETFs and clarity surrounding the ability for ETF issuers to collect staking rewards. At Friday's larger meeting, the companies present made several additional requests, including that the SEC should declare crypto products like stableco