72 Crypto ETFs Loom at SEC’s Door: The Billion-Dollar Waiting Game

The SEC holds the keys to $30B+ in institutional crypto demand as 72 ETF applications gather dust. Here’s what’s at stake:

• Spot Bitcoin ETFs were just the warm-up - Ethereum, Solana, and altcoin funds queue next

• Wall Street’s playing both sides: BlackRock files while JPMorgan warns clients away

• The 18-month approval window means some funds won’t launch until 2026

Regulators move slower than Bitcoin’s halving cycle - but when they flip the switch, prepare for the institutional floodgates to open. Just don’t ask them to understand DeFi.

It’s also surreal to see ETFs being filed that would monitor joke cryptocurrencies and meme coins such as DOGE, MELANIA and TRUMP. Let’s be honest: digital assets like this are hardly likely to pique the interest of pin-striped millionaires on Wall Street, especially considering they’re all down more than 75% from record highs.

But as Bitwise’s chief investment officer Matt Hougan recently told Cryptonews, there might still be appetite for a Dogecoin ETF:

“There’s a community that fervently believes in it. It’s been around for 12 years, it was here before Mt. Gox collapsed … and for those people who want to own it, it would be great if they could access a low-cost, secure ETF that practises best institutional custody.”

Other pending applications would enable investors to receive staking rewards from spot Ether ETFs — potentially making them a more attractive proposition. But ETF analyst Eric Balchunas recently argued that inflows are unlikely to spike unless the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency rallies hard first.

Meanwhile, ProShares is lobbying to provide ETFs that would enable investors to go short on both XRP and SOL — and effectively bet against these cryptocurrencies. One specific product, known as “UltraShort,” would mean investors receive 2x returns whenever they fall in value.

Tuttle Capital Management has also filed for 2x ETFs across 10 digital assets — including XRP and Solana, along with lesser-known coins like Chainlink, Polkadot and BONK. If approved, they could magnify an investor’s returns by delivering 200% gains if the cryptocurrency’s price rises — but also amplify losses.

The firm has admitted these applications are pretty speculative, and amount to “testing the waters” to see how crypto-friendly the Trump administration really is.

No matter what happens, the onboarding of additional cryptocurrencies into the ETF space will deliver one crucial advantage: allowing providers to create multi-asset funds with allocations for a wide range of coins — and not just Bitcoin and Ether. That could be an exciting use case, and simplify the process of gaining exposure to the market without owning digital assets directly.