Will the Next Crypto ETF Belong to Litecoin?

Litecoin’s LTC climbed more than 20% in the past 24 hours after analysts speculated that an exchange-traded fund (ETF) might be in the payments token’s near future.

In a Jan. 15 X post, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart pointed out that Canary Capital, which has applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approval of a Litecoin ETF had seen some movement on its filing.

Specifically, Canary Capital filed an amended S-1 form with the SEC. That, Seyffart suggested, could mean that it had received feedback from the regulator about its filing, which could mean that the SEC is considering making Litecoin the third token to have its own ETF after bitcoin and ether.

While he was careful to say “no guarantees,” Seyffart’s post was backed up by his colleague Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst.

“We had heard chatter that the Litecoin S-1 had gotten comments back from SEC,” Balchunas said in response. “This looks to confirm that which bodes well for our prediction that Litecoin is most likely to be the next coin approved.”

That’s even though Canary and other ETF managers 21Shares, Bitwise and VanEck are all farther along in the approval process for Solana ETFs.

Up in the air

Balchunas warned that incoming SEC Chairman Paul Atkins’s term has yet to start, which introduces “a huge variable” into the mix.

The SEC is reportedly in the process of changing its outlook on cryptocurrencies quite dramatically.

Not only is Chairman Gary Gensler leaving, Atkins will be the third Republican on the five-member commission, changing political control of the SEC.

Gensler is crypto’s Public Enemy No. 1 after years of refusing to provide any meaningful regulatory guidance to the industry beyond enforcement actions. Atkins, on the other hand, has served as co-chair of the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s Token Alliance lobbying arm for years.