21Shares and VanEck SOL ETFs removed from CBOE website

Solana exchange-traded funds, SOL ETFs filings from 21Shares, and VanEck are no longer available on the CBOE website. The two asset management companies filed the S-1 forms to apply for Solana ETF approval in early June. However, the documents are no longer available and cannot be accessed from the CBOE website via direct link.

21Shares and VanEck forms 19b-4 have reportedly been discarded from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) website for unclear reasons. The two firms may have withdrawn their applications, or The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may have rejected them. 

VanEck and 21Shares SOL ETF 19b-4 filings allegedly removed from CBOE website

According to Summers, an X user, Document SR-CboeBZX-2024-067 and Document SR-CboeBZX-2024-066 are no longer accessible via direct link as they used to be on the CBOE website. Additionally, the documents are no longer available in BZX Pending Rule Changes. 

The X user noted that the U.S. SEC had never acknowledged the two applications and, therefore, never issued Notices of Filings. 

The regulator published Notices of Fillings for Bitcoin ETFs on January 8th and later approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs. However, it is unclear why the regulator failed to publish the Notices of Fillings from 21Shares and VanEck’s Solana ETF applications. 

21Shares and VanEck filed 19b-4 forms on July 8th after hinting to investors in their June S-1 filings about offering Solana ETFs. According to experts, the U.S. financial watchdog appears hesitant to approve Solana ETFs.

Industry professionals react to the missing SOL ETF documents  

Head of Research at VanEck, Matthew Sigel, expressed his disappointment after Brazil recently approved Solana ETFs ahead of the United States. 

Sigel expressed his concerns that American lawmakers are focused on the wrong trajectory, making other countries outperform the U.S. on crypto regulations. He mentioned that U.S. regulation requires a “soft fork” upgrade to launch Solana ETFs and that the solution lies in the White House.

After Brazil approved SOL ETFs, Sigel expressed his embarrassment as an American, given that Brazil gave the applications a thumbs-up ahead of the United States. He also commented that U.S. lawmakers are more focused on inhibiting the growth of the digital asset industry than supporting it.

“This admin is winning lawsuits against Big Tech for antitrust, but won’t allow open source alternatives to thrive.” 

Sigel on X.

The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission, the South American country’s regulator, approved the first spot Solana ETFs. QR Asset and Vortx will set up and manage the ETFs. The fund will capitalize on the CME CF Solana Dollar Reference Rate Index, supported by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and developed by CF Benchmarks.

General counsel at Van Buren Capital, Scott Johnsson, also replied in an X post , blaming U.S. SEC chair Gary Gensler for the delisting of Solana ETF filings from CBOE. Johnsson also speculated that Gary reported to CBOE that the SOL ETF applications were not filed properly as “commodity-based trust shares” instead of the chair following the 19b-4 process.