The wave of altcoin ETF applications has risen, is a new round of speculation about to come?

Recently, despite the underwhelming performance of the cryptocurrency market, traditional financial institutions remain highly interested. In February of this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed the ETFs for LTC, DOGE, SOL, and XRP applied for by several large U.S. institutions. The improved policy environment and regulatory easing have further propelled the progress of alts ETFs this week.

The latest alts applying for ETF

The application process for an ETF in the United States usually takes 6-8 months, depending on the SEC's review progress. Below are some recent altcoin applications for ETFs and their market performance over the past 30 days, sorted by application date:

ADA (Cardano)

On February 25, the SEC confirmed the acceptance of the spot Cardano (ADA) ETF listing application submitted by NYSE Arca on behalf of Grayscale. This application was submitted on February 10, with Coinbase Custody Trust Company acting as the custodian and BNY Mellon responsible for asset services and administration.

On March 2nd, the price of ADA surged over 70%.

DOT (Polkadot)

On February 25, Nasdaq submitted a 19b-4 application document for a certain fund company's DOT ETF.

HBAR (Hedera)

On February 24 and March 4, Nasdaq submitted 19b-4 application documents for HBAR ETFs for two different companies.

Hedera is seen as a dark horse in the cryptocurrency space, and the news of its spot HBAR ETF potentially going live has drawn market attention. Investors are closely watching the regulatory dynamics in the environment following the elections.

AXL (Axelar)

On March 6, a certain company submitted an S-1 application document for its AXL ETF.

In addition, the former legal chief of a certain trading platform has joined Axelar's new advisory board, which focuses on regulatory coordination and institutional adoption.

APT (Aptos)

On March 6, a certain asset management company officially submitted an S-1 application to the SEC to register for a potential Aptos ETF.

Aptos is seeking to launch a US-listed ETF in collaboration with major asset management companies, becoming one of the few crypto protocols globally to achieve this milestone.

Ethereum ETF Performance

Since the Ethereum ETF was launched on the US capital market on July 23 of last year, it has seen a net inflow of 2.76 billion USD, accounting for about 1% of the total Ethereum supply. However, the price of Ethereum has dropped from around 3,200 USD at the time of launch to approximately 2,300 USD currently.

This is partly due to a certain fund continuously selling Ethereum ETFs, becoming the largest seller in the market; on the other hand, Ethereum is more significantly affected by large holders selling compared to Bitcoin.

Nevertheless, a certain financial institution continues to increase its holdings of Ethereum, indicating that long-term investors maintain confidence in Ethereum in an increasingly open market environment.

The Impact of Crypto ETFs on the Market

If the aforementioned altcoin ETF is approved in 2025, it will become a channel for traditional funds to flow in, but it does not mean that these tokens will necessarily see a significant increase.

Analysts expect the SEC to make a decision on the proposed alts ETF in October this year. If approved, future positive factors may continue to attract more conservative and institutional investors, changing the investor structure of the market. The crypto market may experience increased liquidity, rising prices, and changes in the investor structure under this policy environment.

In addition, the ETF launched by the United States may inspire other countries and regions to follow suit, promoting the global adoption of cryptocurrencies. This trend could accelerate the transition of cryptocurrencies from fringe assets to mainstream financial instruments, enhancing their status in the global economy.

Alts That May Apply for ETF in the Future

The year 2025 may see a peak in applications for altcoin ETFs. Institutions predict that the surge in demand for cryptocurrency ETFs will cause their total assets in North America to surpass those of precious metal ETFs, making them the third largest asset class in the rapidly growing $15 trillion ETF industry, following stocks and bonds.

U.S.-based altcoins may be more favored. For example, ONDO (Ondo Finance) as a representative of the RWA sector may be the first to gain approval for an ETF linked to tokenized government bonds. If the relevant bill passes and establishes the principle of "decentralized protocol exemption from securities laws," mainstream U.S. DeFi tokens such as UNI (Uniswap), MKR (MakerDAO), and AAVE (Aave) may accelerate their integration into the traditional financial system.