A historic moment occurred today, when two altcoins that were previously unlikely to receive approval managed to gain ETF approval.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved two new cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offered by Canary Capital.
This gives investors access to new digital assets beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. The approved Litecoin ETF and Hedera ETF began trading on the Nasdaq exchange today.
Steven McClurg, founder and CEO of Canary Capital, told Scarlet Fu on Bloomberg Markets that the approval process for these ETFs was made possible by the adoption of “general listing standards for crypto assets” in September. “These standards allow any cryptocurrency with a futures outstanding in the U.S. of more than six months to be listed as an ETF,” McClurg said.
McClurg argued that the ETFs for Litecoin and Hedera are the “first pure spot products.”
“Litecoin, very similar to Bitcoin, is not considered a security, and we’ve been working on this filing with the SEC for a year. We went through the same process for HBAR,” he said.
McClurg, who described Litecoin as the “silver of Bitcoin,” said, “Litecoin is designed for small, fast transactions; it can process transactions in less time than Bitcoin’s 10-minute transaction times. This makes it particularly suitable for use in developing countries.”
More than 100 crypto-focused ETFs are currently trading in the US. However, increasing competition in the market is increasing the influence of giants like BlackRock and Fidelity. McClurg said, “Being first to market is a huge advantage. However, we are a team focused solely on crypto. Half of our team has a crypto background, while the other half has experience in the traditional ETF market. The difference with Canary is that we focus solely on this area.”
Canary Capital is also reportedly working on new products, such as the “Pango ETF,” which could include Tron (TRX) and Pudgy Penguins NFTs in the future. McClurg explained their plans, saying, “We’ve submitted the first ETF application that includes NFTs. If approved, it will be a very innovative product.”
