More than 100 crypto exchange-traded products could launch in quick succession in 2026, following recent guidance from the US securities regulator that drastically reduced the processing times for new funds, according to a Bitwise researcher.
“From here we are going to accelerate forward at ridiculous speed,” Bitwise researcher Ryan Rasmussen said during an interview with the Bankless podcast on Tuesday.
“We think over 100 crypto-linked ETPs will launch next year; those will be spot crypto, index, equities, smart beta, momentum, all kinds of things,” Rasmussen added.
Rasmussen based his prediction on the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) release of generic listing standards in October, which eliminated the need for individual 19(b) approvals for qualifying crypto ETPs.
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“It is essentially a playbook letting ETP issuers like Bitwise know that if an asset meets a certain criteria, then you can list an ETP. We no longer have this 240-day waiting period that we all went through,” he said.
Many market participants view the launch of additional crypto ETPs that track altcoins as a bullish sign for the market.
Bitfinex analysts said in August that altcoins are unlikely to see a broad, outsized rally until ETFs offering exposure beyond the largest cryptocurrencies are approved.
Rasmussen said it has been nearly 15 years since Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss filed for the first Bitcoin ETF, yet there are still only a “handful” of crypto ETPs on the market today.
“It matters for investors because now they have a big menu to choose from, on how they want to allocate,” he said, likening it to how the excitement of a restaurant often depends on the size of its menu:
“You can imagine investors going through the restaurant and having like two things on the menu, they are not going to be very excited about it, and it’s not going to be a very great experience, but now their going to go and have a menu that’s like the cheesecake factory of ETPs.”
The number of crypto ETPs on the market has recently climbed above 300, according to Fineqia International.
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The generic listing standards guidance could lead to many more crypto ETP launches in the near future.
On Sept. 17, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said the policy change would be a positive move toward a “wave of spot crypto ETP launches.”
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Seoyoung Kim, an associate professor of finance at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, recently told Cointelegraph that while it may not have much impact on already “legitimized” categories such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), it could bring significant benefits to other crypto products.
“For a futures or spot ETF for digital assets that haven’t already been individually vetted, these rule changes could cut down the time to approval from years to months. Of course, the would-be ETF must still comply with pre-existing standards for ETF formation, listing, and trading,” Kim said.
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