U.S. SEC Approves Generic Listing Standards for Crypto ETFs, Altcoin Market Rebounds

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved generic listing standards for commodity-based exchange-traded products, including spot crypto ETFs. The generic listing standards eliminate the SEC’s traditional approval processes, which was lengthy under section 19(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. 

What are the Key Requirements for Crypto Assets to Qualify for Generic Listing Standards?

According to the announcement, a commodity seeking to be eligible under the generic listing standards must be traded on a market that is an Intermarket Surveillance Group member. Additionally, a commodity seeking eligibility via the generic listing standards must be traded under a futures contract for at least six months on a CFTC-regulated exchange.

For comparison purposes, the last time the SEC made such a move on traditional ETFs, the pace of ETF listing skyrocketed from 117 per year to around 370 per year. As such Eric Balchunas, an ETF specialist at Bloomberg, noted that there is a high chance that the number of spot crypto ETFs launched in the next twelve months will surpass 100.

Market Impact

Currently, there are between 12-15 crypto assets that have futures listed on Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN), according to Balchunas. As such, the listing processes for spot ETFs focused on Dogecoin, Solana, XRP, Litecoin, Cardano, Hedera, Avalanche, and Chainlink have been cleared automatically.

Previously, the U.S. SEC had given a green light for the listing of REX – Ospreys Solana + staking, in addition to its Dogecoin and XRP ETFs. With the ETF listing processes expedited, capital flow to the altcoin market will skyrocket in the coming months.
As such, the wider altcoin market gained a bullish outlook, negating the losses recorded after the Fed slashed its interest rates. According to our market data, BNB, SOL, and DOGE led the wider altcoin market’s bullish rebound, amid rising odds of altseason during the fourth quarter.