Howdy!

We published a scoop on the SEC engaging with Solana ETF issuers just before newsletter time, so I’ve attached that piece below, and I’ll jot down a few thoughts on the news in this intro section.

Besides that, we have a Solana payments app rebrand from the founder of Kik and the startup driving provenance for Time.fun.

Regarding the Solana ETF news: I don’t have a crystal ball to see when the SEC may reach a decision on SOL ETFs, but the agency asking for amended S-1s seems like a strong indicator that SOL is on its way to being the next crypto asset, following bitcoin and ether, to gain ETF approval.

It’s also notable that the SEC asked issuers to describe how they would go about staking. A lack of staking rewards could be a big hurdle to investor interest in a Solana ETF, given how lucrative staking rewards can be. Holding naked SOL is, in a sense, dilutive compared to holding staked SOL.

And while SOL climbed 4% on our story, it’s not entirely clear to me how much demand there will be for SOL ETFs. Aren’t public crypto vehicles all the rage now? Now as for the story itself:

SEC makes progress on Solana ETFs: Sources

The SEC has asked prospective Solana ETF issuers to submit amended S-1 forms within the next week, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Blockworks. 

The agency told issuers it would make comments on the S-1s within 30 days of their submission, two sources added.

The SEC asked issuers to update language surrounding in-kind redemptions and how issuers would approach staking, two of the sources said, adding that the agency appears open to including staking as part of Solana ETFs.

One source estimated these updates could put Solana ETFs on track to be approved within three to five weeks. Bloomberg Intelligence’s James Seyffart told Blockworks that he’s eyeing approval this year, possibly as soon as July. 

“We think the SEC may now focus on handling 19b-4 filings for Solana and staking ETFs earlier than planned. Issuers and industry participants likely have been working alongside the SEC and its crypto task force to hash out rules, but the final deadlines for the agency's decisions on such applications aren't until October,” Seyffart wrote in a note this week.

Crypto exchange-traded products are regulated funds that give investors exposure to the spot price of underlying crypto tokens. Numerous issuers are vying for Solana ETFs, including Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, Bitwise, Canary Capital, 21Shares and Grayscale.

The SEC, VanEck, Fidelity, and Bitwise declined to comment. Canary Capital, 21Shares, Grayscale, and Franklin Templeton didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

Grayscale, in a similar move to its bitcoin and ethereum ETFs, is looking to convert its SOL Trust into a spot ETF.  

Last month, the SEC delayed a decision on Grayscale’s Solana ETF, saying it hadn’t “reached any conclusions” on the 19b-4 filing to list the proposed spot ETF. 

The regulator officially recognized Grayscale’s filing in February. That month, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart acknowledged the move as “significant” because the SEC had previously “refused” to acknowledge such filings. 

“We are under the assumption that most, if not all [filings for crypto ETFs] will be approved this year, some possibly earlier than others,” he said at the time.

Seyffart noted that both the filings for Solana and XRP ETFs have derivatives-based ETFs already, which paves the way for spot approval. 

“So I would just be absolutely and utterly stunned if the SEC does something to not allow a spot XRP or spot Solana ETF to launch,” he added. 

In April, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas said that they were boosting the chance of a SOL ETF to 90% from 70%. 

The Forward Guidance newsletter’s Ben Strack previously reported that the 240-day deadlines for the products are in October, meaning that the SEC must make a decision on them. However, two of Blockworks’ sources expressed optimism that the agency’s approval for the ETFs could come sooner.

In a move widely seen as positive for potential SOL ETFs, CME launched SOL futures in February. It previously launched futures markets for both BTC and ETH prior to the ETF launches, a move that helped the SEC approve the products.  

As a result, numerous SOL futures ETFs have launched — including two from Volatility Shares.

— Jack Kubinec and Katherine Ross

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June 24-26 | Brooklyn, NY

We just had a conversation with Ted Livingston, the former founder and CEO of Kik Messenger. Kik got stuck in the SEC’s crosshairs following its 2017 Kin ICO, but Livingston stuck around in the crypto world and eventually founded a Solana-based payments app named Code.

That app got a refresh as Flipcash, which now runs on USDC instead of Kin and is focused on making the experience of physical cash digital. We talk about the Flipcash refresh — and how Livingston hopes to make it in the crowded field of crypto payments.

— Jack Kubinec

Provenance. That's your word of the day. And for years, it's been both a strength and a problem for blockchain tech, depending on how it's being used.

In the collectibles space, provenance is gospel. It's what makes a JPEG worth millions (well, if you're still somehow living in 2020, anyway). But when dealing with charitable donations, identity or privacy-centered systems, provenance can become a liability.

Too much transparency risks exposing donors' and recipients' actions and intentions; a problem in politically volatile and surveillance-heavy climates. Too little transparency, and no one trusts the pipeline.

Now, though, there's a clean, purpose-built answer to this issue in the form of a project called Donate.gg. It offers a crypto-native donation layer that balances traceability against discretion, letting anyone send SOL, BTC, ETH or USDC to verified nonprofits while shielding sensitive data and automating distribution.

And recently, its team announced its first official partner: Time.fun. The Solana-based platform, which lets creators tokenize their time into redeemable minutes for chats, calls or auctions, has already driven over $440,000 in creator-designated donations. Soon, $352,000 of that — earmarked for St. Jude — will flow directly through Donate.gg's infrastructure. All future donations from Time.fun will follow suit.

— Jeffrey Albus

A message from Paul Dylan-Ennis, lecturer at the College of Business, University College Dublin: