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Discover how Solana achieved SEC approval for its first ETF, now trading on the NYSE. Explore Solana’s journey, market impact and what lies ahead.
Author: Sahil Thakur
Published On: Tue, 28 Oct 2025 03:52:48 GMT
Solana, one of the most technologically advanced and community-driven blockchains in the cryptocurrency space, has officially entered a new era of institutional recognition with the approval of the first Solana-based Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
This landmark moment not only signifies a major regulatory breakthrough for Solana but also marks a turning point for the broader altcoin market in gaining mainstream financial legitimacy. In this article, we explore Solana’s journey from its early technical innovations to its meteoric rise in price, its battles with regulatory uncertainty, the growing adoption by retail users and institutions alike, and the intense build-up leading to ETF approval. We’ll also examine the structure and impact of the newly launched Solana ETFs, the strength of its global community, and what lies ahead for SOL as both a blockchain project and an investable asset.
Solana was founded in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko, a former Qualcomm engineer. His goal was to build a blockchain that could scale without losing security or decentralization. Yakovenko introduced Proof-of-History, or PoH, a new way to keep time on-chain. PoH works as a cryptographic clock that timestamps every event before it reaches the Proof-of-Stake consensus layer. This system lets Solana handle transactions faster and in a fixed order. It achieves extremely high throughput while keeping the network secure. The combination of PoH and PoS allows Solana to process thousands of transactions per second. On standard gigabit networks, it can theoretically reach up to 710,000.
From the beginning, Solana aimed for sub-second finality and very low fees. The network uses validator clusters, groups of nodes that work together to improve efficiency. This design enables better parallel processing than traditional blockchains. Developers can build on Solana using familiar languages like C, C++, and Rust. It also has its own SPL token standard for issuing digital assets across the network.
In 2022, Jump Crypto started building Firedancer, an independent validator client in C++. Firedancer pushed Solana’s limits even further. In testing, it handled more than one million transactions per second, compared to the earlier 50,000 TPS ceiling. More importantly, Firedancer increased client diversity. For years, Solana relied on a single validator client, which was a centralization risk. The new client solved that problem and strengthened the network’s reliability. Together, these changes made Solana one of the fastest and most cost-efficient Layer-1 blockchains in the world.
Solana’s token, SOL, has gone through several major market cycles. It launched at just a few dollars in 2020. During the 2021 bull run, as investors searched for faster Ethereum alternatives, SOL’s price exploded. By November 2021, it hit an all-time high near 260 dollars. The rise was driven by network adoption, DeFi growth, and a strong developer community.
Then came the crash in 2022. A global crypto bear market hit hard, and Solana’s own problems made it worse. The network suffered several outages that hurt confidence. When the FTX exchange collapsed in November 2022, Solana was hit again. FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, had been major supporters. SOL dropped to around 8 dollars, a 97 percent fall from its peak. Despite the loss, the community kept building. Through 2023, network stability improved, and new projects appeared. SOL slowly climbed back into double digits.
The real recovery started in 2024. As markets turned bullish and U.S. regulations became more favorable, Solana rallied again. By November 2024, SOL broke its previous record, trading above 260 dollars. The rebound came almost exactly two years after the FTX collapse. Analysts credited the comeback to renewed confidence, better uptime, and a friendlier political climate. By October 2025, SOL held steady near 200 dollars, up more than 300 percent from the year before. The cycle from boom to crash to recovery showed how volatile crypto can be, but also how Solana’s technology and community allowed it to survive and rebuild stronger.
Solana’s rapid throughput and low fees have driven adoption across both retail users and institutions. On the retail side, Solana became a hub for NFTs and Web3 gaming. By the end of 2022, it was the second-largest blockchain for NFTs by secondary market volume, trailing only Ethereum. Solana-native collections like Degenerate Ape Academy and Solana Monkey Business drew strong followings. Magic Eden, the top NFT marketplace on Solana at the time, handled more than 90 percent of NFT trades. Memes about “Solana Summer” circulated widely as PFP drops and digital art brought in new users. Developers in crypto gaming also moved to Solana to take advantage of its speed. Play-to-earn and metaverse projects launched throughout the year. In 2023, the Helium Network migrated its infrastructure to Solana, confirming confidence in its ability to handle large-scale IoT applications.
Institutional interest also picked up. A major moment came in 2023 when Visa began using Solana for stablecoin-based cross-border settlements. Visa pointed to Solana’s low fees and high speed. USDC transactions began flowing through Solana as part of pilot programs. It marked one of the first times a global payments company used Solana at scale. Around the same time, Shopify integrated Solana Pay. That allowed merchants to accept USDC payments directly on Solana. Customers could use wallets like Phantom to check out instantly. Transactions settled in seconds instead of days, which made crypto payments more practical for retail.
Developer growth followed. As of 2025, Solana had the second-largest developer base in crypto, just behind Ethereum. Over 17,700 developers were actively contributing. More than 11,000 joined in the first nine months of 2025 alone. Developers were drawn to Solana’s fast runtime, scalable design, and low fees. Solana ran global hackathons and annual Breakpoint conferences to drive engagement. Even Ethereum developers started onboarding thanks to tools like Neon EVM, launched in 2023, which allowed Ethereum apps to run on Solana. With all these factors—NFTs, DeFi, real-world payments, and developer momentum—the Solana ecosystem evolved from just a high-speed chain to a full platform. Retail users mint collectibles. Institutions move money. Builders deploy new dApps. All of it now happens on Solana.
Like many crypto projects, Solana faced regulatory challenges in the U.S. One major concern was whether SOL, its native token, would be classified as a security. This came to a head in mid-2023 when the SEC named SOL in lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance. The SEC labeled it an unregistered security. The move shocked many in the industry. If true, it would mean Solana’s token sales and network activity might fall under strict securities laws. The Solana Foundation quickly rejected the claim. It said SOL is not a security and described Solana as a decentralized, community-run protocol. Most developers ignored the noise and kept building. But the lawsuits highlighted how little legal clarity existed at the time.
The picture changed in the following two years. In 2024, industry groups and lawmakers pushed for updated crypto laws. By 2025, a shift in SEC leadership created space for more open dialogue. In April 2025, the SEC released new guidance on applying the Howey test to digital tokens. The rules were clearer about when a token might count as a security. Decentralized projects with utility, like Solana, were less likely to fall under those rules. This brought relief to many in the space. Around the same time, a new U.S. administration signaled strong support for crypto. Even the president got involved, launching a Solana-based memecoin called $TRUMP. In parallel, the SEC approved baseline listing standards for crypto trusts and ETFs. This meant assets like SOL could move into mainstream finance.
By October 2025, Hong Kong had already approved the first Solana spot ETF. It started trading on the HKEX soon after. The U.S. caught up quickly. By the end of 2025, the SEC also approved a Solana ETF. That marked a clear shift. It showed the SEC no longer viewed SOL as a legal risk worth blocking. After years of speculation and tension, Solana got regulatory breathing room. For the first time, it could enter traditional markets without the cloud of enforcement. The threat of being labeled a security had finally faded.
The path to the first Solana exchange-traded fund wasn’t sudden. It followed years of work by asset managers and industry advocates. Interest in a Solana ETF began during the 2021 bull market, when SOL became a top 10 crypto by market cap. That same year, Grayscale launched the private Grayscale Solana Trust to offer institutional exposure. But turning a trust into a publicly traded ETF required SEC approval, which was unavailable in 2022 and 2023. At the time, only Bitcoin futures ETFs were getting the green light.
Momentum shifted in 2024. The SEC finally approved spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs. That signaled a regulatory thaw. Sensing an opportunity, at least four major firms filed for Solana ETFs. Bitwise proposed a “Bitwise Solana ETF.” VanEck and 21Shares joined. A newer firm, Canary Capital, also filed. By December 2024, Grayscale re-entered the race, filing to convert its $134 million Solana Trust (ticker: GSOL) into an ETF. That made five total applicants. The broad interest showed strong industry support. Still, progress was slow. The SEC extended deadlines into 2025, asking for more clarity on custody, market surveillance, and investor protections.
In October 2025, things got complicated. A U.S. government shutdown partly froze the SEC. That raised concerns: would ETF decisions be delayed again? Exchanges and issuers responded with a workaround. NYSE Arca and Nasdaq began using newly adopted generic listing standards for commodity-based ETFs. These rules let them file Form 8-A registrations and self-certify listings if certain conditions were met. The strategy didn’t require an explicit SEC approval. Analysts saw this as a clever move to avoid letting bureaucracy stop progress. Crypto advocates and even some lawmakers publicly backed the approach. By late October, the ETF filings were complete. The legal mechanism existed. The political cover was there. All that remained was execution.
On October 27, 2025, the breakthrough came. The New York Stock Exchange posted listing notices for several crypto ETFs, including two tied to Solana. It caught many by surprise, given the SEC’s partial shutdown. But the listings went through under the new rules. The very next day, on October 28, the Bitwise Solana ETF launched on NYSE Arca. Named the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (ticker: BSOL), it was the first U.S. exchange-traded product with full direct exposure to SOL. The fund stakes the tokens it holds, aiming to earn Solana’s estimated 7 percent annual staking rewards. This design lets the ETF offer both price exposure and yield. Solana’s proof-of-stake model made that possible.
Grayscale followed quickly. On October 29, it converted its existing Solana Trust into a spot ETF. The fund kept its GSOL ticker and listed on NYSE Arca. At the same time, Canary Capital launched its own Solana-related ETFs on Nasdaq. These were all spot funds, holding actual SOL tokens in custody instead of futures contracts. Approval came not through a formal announcement, but because the SEC didn’t block the 8-A filings before deadline. Under the new framework, that counted as consent. It was a quiet green light. Crypto observers called it a surprise move. Many had expected nothing until the shutdown ended.
The market responded. SOL, which had already rallied ahead of the listing, stayed near $200 and ticked up slightly after launch. Volume told the bigger story. The debut of BSOL saw strong activity as both retail and institutional investors jumped in. Within the first week, combined assets under management across the Solana ETFs crossed into the hundreds of millions. The rollout marked a major milestone. Solana had joined Bitcoin and Ether in the ETF club. It now had access to traditional markets, brokerage accounts, and retirement platforms. For the crypto industry, it was a moment of validation. For Solana, it was a leap into the mainstream.
With the approval of a Solana ETF, the network now stands at a turning point. But the journey isn’t over. Several major upgrades are on the roadmap. One of the biggest is called “Alpenglow,” expected in late 2025 or early 2026. It aims to improve staking economics and validator participation. Alpenglow is designed to lower the entry barrier for new validators. It targets the current problem where a small number of validators control too much of the stake. Right now, about 20 top validators control one-third of all stake. Solana wants to fix this. Alpenglow will likely adjust stake weight rules and introduce new incentives. The goal is to make it easier for smaller validators to join without needing expensive hardware or massive delegations.
Alongside that, work continues on Firedancer, the independent validator client built by Jump Crypto. Once fully deployed, Firedancer could push throughput into the millions of transactions per second. It also adds resilience. If the original client has bugs, the network won’t go down. Firedancer gives Solana client diversity and removes the single point of failure. The result should be stronger uptime and fewer outages, a long-standing issue Solana wants to leave behind for good.
On the adoption side, the ETF opens the door to more institutional inflows. Funds, pensions, and asset managers that didn’t want to hold crypto directly now have a way in. Analysts expect strong demand. J.P. Morgan estimates $1.5 billion could flow into Solana ETFs during their first year. That’s smaller than projections for Ethereum ETFs, but still meaningful. It brings new buyers and adds liquidity. ETFs could also be the start of more integration. Firms might offer Solana-based indexes or use the blockchain itself for tokenized securities. U.S. regulators have been pushing for tokenization in 2025, and Solana fits the profile for that kind of infrastructure.
On-chain, Solana’s DeFi scene has come roaring back. In January 2025, total value locked hit a new all-time high, passing $10 billion. Much of that came from users returning after exiting in 2022. Lending markets, DEXes, and staking protocols are all growing. Liquid staking tokens like Marinade’s mSOL let users keep assets staked while still using them in DeFi. That adds capital efficiency, which matters more now that ETFs like BSOL are staking too. If ETFs continue to stake at high levels, this could drive up staking rates and reduce circulating supply.
Over the long term, Solana will need to balance speed with decentralization. The core team has hinted at further runtime improvements and even sharding or other scaling layers down the road. For now, Solana still handles high throughput on Layer-1. Tokenomics will also get more attention. SOL is inflationary, but with slow emissions. Over 70 percent of SOL is currently staked. If funds like BSOL keep staking all their assets, it could increase locked supply and push prices up if demand grows. But high staking only helps if it’s distributed. That’s where decentralization and governance come in. Solana’s on-chain governance tools may evolve as more ETF holders come in. Giving SOL holders a stronger voice could become more important.
Competition will also shape Solana’s next phase. The network will continue to separate itself from Ethereum, focusing on speed and a unique developer experience. But new high-performance chains are always emerging. Solana’s edge may come from the strength of its dev ecosystem. MakerDAO’s founder has already hinted that Maker’s next chain could run on Solana’s codebase. That move would solidify Solana’s reputation as a strong foundation for new Web3 infrastructure. If more Web2 companies follow Visa and Shopify’s lead, Solana could become the default chain for Web2 to Web3 transitions, especially in payments and social apps.
Leadership and community remain focused on pushing forward. Anatoly Yakovenko has repeatedly talked about a future where Solana is everywhere. Not just visible, but invisible – powering apps behind the scenes thanks to its speed and low cost. The ETF launch in October 2025 proves that traditional finance now takes Solana seriously. It’s not the end of the story. It’s the start of a new phase. Solana now trades on Wall Street. It also powers DeFi, NFTs, games, and payments on-chain. With Firedancer, Alpenglow, and institutional access in place, Solana’s next chapter could be even more ambitious than the last.
