Litecoin LTC/USD soared to double-digit gains on Wednesday after the SEC formally acknowledged its exchange-traded fund application.
What happened: The regulator solicited comments on the ETF applied by digital asset trading firm Canary Capital and asked for those to be submitted 21 days after publication in the Federal Register.
"Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule change is consistent with the Act," a statement from the filing read.
The development sparked over a 11% increase in LTC, making it the biggest 24-hour gainer among coins valued at $1 billion or more. Its trading volume nearly doubled to $1.19 billion.
Leading ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the Canary Capital ETF filing was "by far the furthest along checking all the boxes," since the approval of spot Ethereum ETH/USD-based ETFs last year.
First alt coin 19b-4 to be acknowledged, rest were told to withdraw by Genz SEC. Throw in the comments from SEC on the S-1 and this filing is by far the furthest along checking all the boxes. Q now is will this SEC wait the full 240 days or approve more rapidly. Unknown. https://t.co/iXwq9PkLGr
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 29, 2025
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Interestingly, the SEC described Litecoin as “very similar” to Bitcoin BTC/USD, the first cryptocurrency with ETF shares trading on Wall Street.
"No single entity owns or operates the Litecoin Network, the infrastructure of which is collectively maintained by a decentralized user base," the SEC noted.
Why It Matters: The SEC acknowledgment comes roughly two weeks after the Nasdaq stock exchange submitted a 19b-4 application to list the ETF, which followed Canary Capital's amended S-1 registration application.
Created from the hard fork of Bitcoin, Litecoin is widely seen as a commodity and has escaped scrutiny from U.S. regulators.
Meanwhile, odds that a Litecoin ETF would be approved in 2025 stood at 85% as of this writing, according to leading prediction platform Polymarket.
Price Action: At the time of writing, LTC was exchanging hands at $127.51, up 11.1% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Year-to-date, the coin was up 14.47%.
Photo by DIAMOND VISUALS on Shutterstock
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