Leading asset manager and issuer of bitcoin-based ETFs, VanEck, has officially submitted Spot Solana ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which underpins bold growth predictions for the Solana ecosystem.

Market-making firm GSR Markets recently released a report shedding airy on the potential impact of the Solana ETF and highlighting the fact that the platform has become part of the “Big Three” in the cryptocurrency space.

Speculations about Solana’s ETF approval

GSRs report highlights Solana’s rapid growth in the cryptocurrency industry, positioning it as a major player alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum.

With a Bitcoin-based ETF market already approved and Ethereum in the process of launching an ETF market in the US, GSR predicts it’s only a matter of time before Solana follows suit, potentially having the biggest impact.

GSR analysis highlights three key ones technological progress what sets Solana apart from its competitors. First, Solana’s proof of history enables validators to produce blocks efficiently, which provides incredible speed and scalability benefits.

Second, Solana’s parallel transaction processing allows for increased throughput and takes advantage of improvements in computational speed.

Finally, the company said Solana’s architecture enables it to solve the “blockchain trilemma” by achieving global state synchronization at “unprecedented speeds” as hardware and bandwidth costs decline.

Additionally, the GSR report touches on the likelihood of Solana securing a digital spot equity ETF. While present Legal framework requires a federally regulated futures market and a futures-based ETF before a cash product can be considered, GSR believes the potential for change should not be underestimated.

The company also says the cryptocurrency industry enjoys bipartisan support, with changing attitudes from lawmakers pointing to a more favorable environment for digital assets.

The Trump administration and the liberal SEC commissioner could further pave the way for the launch of spot Digital asset ETFscreating opportunities for Solana and other cryptocurrencies, the report said.

Estimated impact on SOL price

GSR highlights importance of decentralization and potential demand when selecting the next digital asset ETF.

Factors such as unauthorized participation, development control, token allocationand the staking characteristics contribute to the level of decentralization of the blockchain.

Meanwhile, as metrics like market capitalization indicate, potential demand is a key factor for issuers when assessing future inflows. The GSR combines decentralization and demand scores to create an ETF Opportunity Score that highlights Ethereum and Solana as prime candidates for the next digital asset ETF slot.

Referring to the impact of the spot Bitcoin ETF on the Bitcoin price, GSR estimates the potential impact of the Solana ETF on SOL. Adapting to the smaller Solan market capitalization Relative to Bitcoin, GSR predicts SOL price growth of between 1.4x and 8.9x under various scenarios.

However, the report acknowledges that the impact could be even greater given the dynamic operate of SOL in staking and decentralized applications. If the spot ETF is approved, GSR suggests that SOL’s potential growth represents a significant market opportunity.

As investor enthusiasm for the developments became apparent, SOL’s share price hit a one-week high of $151 on Thursday, but has fallen almost 4% in the past few hours to its current trading price of $143.

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com