Catenaa, Saturday, June 07, 2025-A group of crypto fund managers on Friday pressed the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to restore its first-to-file approach for approving exchange-traded products, warning that recent practices threaten fairness and competition in digital asset markets.
VanEck, 21Shares and Canary Capital said the SEC’s shift away from processing ETF filings in chronological order undermined the regulatory principles of transparency and market integrity.1
In an open letter addressed to SEC Chair Paul Atkins and shared publicly, the firms claimed that the current review process disadvantages early applicants and stifles innovation.
“The failure to follow this practice has frustrated the regulatory principles of innovation, fairness and competition,” the letter stated.
The signatories urged the SEC to resume its prior model, which approved proposals in the order they were submitted.
“When the Commission plays favorites, it costs ETP sponsors money and makes the ETP marketplace less fair,” they said.
The SEC is reviewing numerous applications to list ETFs tied to tokens including Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP) and Dogecoin (DOGE). The push for fairer review follows the Commission’s simultaneous approval of all spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year, despite staggered filing dates from 11 separate issuers.
Matt Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital assets research, said the firm filed first for a Solana ETF in June 2024, expecting a time-based review standard.
The SEC has not responded publicly to the letter.
- https://x.com/vaneck_us/status/1931038867785744836[↩]
