Solana Futures Launch on CME Signals Imminent US ETF Approval

The upcoming launch of Solana (SOL) futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is seen as a significant indicator that the first US SOL exchange-traded fund (ETF) listings are imminent. Chris Chung, founder of the Solana-based swap platform Titan, highlighted that the introduction of these futures contracts on March 17 will be among the first regulated Solana futures in the US market, following Coinbase’s launch in February. This development is expected to pave the way for the eventual approval of SOL ETFs by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Chung anticipates that the SEC could approve asset managers VanEck and Canary Capital’s proposed spot Solana ETFs as early as May. The existence of regulated Solana futures signals to regulators that Solana is maturing as an asset, making it easier for them to approve additional financial products of similar risk and type. Futures contracts, which are standardized agreements to buy or sell an underlying asset at a future date, play a crucial supporting role for spot cryptocurrency ETFs by providing a stable benchmark for measuring a digital asset’s performance. CME already lists futures contracts for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), and US regulators approved ETFs for both of these cryptocurrencies last year.

Beyond the realm of memecoins, which were central to Solana’s success in 2024, the launch of Solana futures and ETFs is expected to expand the blockchain network’s growth story. These products will attract more serious, long-term capital and pave the way for the development of other real-world use cases, such as payments and remittances. While memecoin trading comprises a significant portion of Solana’s revenues, the network’s activity declined in February due to a series of memecoin-related scandals. However, cryptocurrency trading volumes on Solana continue to rival those of the entire Ethereum ecosystem, including its layer-2 scaling chains.

Chung expects Solana ETFs to gain traction among retail investors, partly due to the challenges facing rival smart contract platform Ethereum. Solana’s native SOL token has performed about twice as well as Ether since early 2024. Ethereum’s spot price has struggled since March 2024, when the network’s Dencun upgrade cut transaction fees by approximately 95%. With the weak price action in Ether, Solana is now seen as the only viable option for retail investors seeking exposure to crypto beyond Bitcoin, but not willing to take on excessive risk.