With a Pro-Crypto SEC and 72 Crypto ETF Filings, Bloomberg Analyst Predicts ‘a Wild Year’

There are now 72 cryptocurrency-based exchange traded fund (ETF) filings awaiting approval by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), per data shared by Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas in a report compiled by ETF research analyst James Seyffart.

The massive list includes both spot and options ETFs for more than 15 different crypto assets as the underlying.The filings include exchange-traded products for top market cap assets like Ripple’s XRP, Litecoin (LTC) and Solana (SOL), as well as for popular memecoins including DOGE, BONK and several 2x leveraged products for the official Trump family memecoins, TRUMP and MELANIA, among several other assets. “Gonna be a wild year,” Balchunas commented on X in the April 21 post.

There are also more than a few Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) ETF filings looking to launch alongside the popular products that finally went live in the U.S. last year. Staked ETH ETFs are also on deck, per the filings.

ETFs for marketing

Aside from memecoin-based products, there are plenty of more serious assets on the list.

ETF products for Aptos (APT), Avalanche (AVAX), Axelar (AXL), BNB, Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), Hedera (HBAR), Polkadot (DOT) and Sui (SUI) also make an appearance on the list. That’s alongside several general crypto index fund proposals.

With a new, crypto-friendly SEC in place, “a TON of alt/meme coin ETFs are likely going to hit the market this year,” Balchunas said in another X post on Monday.

Despite that, he doesn’t see them making much of a dent in the market, with “bitcoin likely to retain at least 80-85% share long-term.”

So why go to all the trouble of proposing and possibly creating an ETF for smaller cap tokens? For one thing, there’s a marketing angle.

“Having your coin get ETF-ized is like being in a band and getting your songs added to all the music streaming services,” Balchunas quipped on X. “Doesn’t guarantee listens but it puts your music where the vast majority of the listeners are.”

Yesterday, April 23, total daily inflows for both the BTC and ETH ETFs in the U.S. hit multi-month highs. Spot BTC ETFs) recorded $936 million in inflows on Tuesday — the most since January. Spot ETH ETFs saw $38.74 million in inflows, notable higher than daily inflows since February.

Already launched

Recently, both XRP and SOL ETF products launched in the U.S., though none of the products tracks the asset’s spot price one-to-one.

Earlier this month, the first XRP ETF launched with over $5 million in volume on its first day of trading. The product is a 2x leveraged ETF from Teucrium Investment Advisors.

In March, in another first, Volatility Shares launched two SOL futures ETFs in the U.S. The two ETFs, SOLZ and SOLT, provide one-to-one and 2x leveraged exposure to Solana futures contracts, alongside other Solana derivatives.