The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially accepted an application for a spot Litecoin ETF from Canary Capital for review. This announcement led to a sharp 18%+ increase in LTC’s price, significantly outperforming the broader crypto market.
What We Know
According to reports, Nasdaq has submitted Form 19b-4, which is required for the ETF’s listing, and the SEC has officially acknowledged it. This starts a 21-day public comment period, after which the SEC will have 240 days to make a final decision unless the process is expedited.
Canary Capital initially filed Form S-1 to register the fund in October 2024. Bloomberg analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart noted that the SEC is already in discussions regarding the application, with Canary Capital making necessary revisions as required.
Why This Matters
Litecoin is the first altcoin to reach this stage of SEC’s official review process.
"The SEC has previously forced issuers to withdraw similar applications, but this time the process is moving forward. The question now is: will the SEC take the full 240 days or approve it sooner?" said Balchunas.
He also suggested that a Litecoin ETF has a better chance of approval than pending Solana-ETF or XRP-ETF applications.
In response to the news, Litecoin's price surged. As of this writing, LTC is trading at $133.38, reflecting a 19.52% gain over the past 24 hours — outpacing Bitcoin (+0.24%) and the overall crypto market cap (+3.61%). LTC's daily trading volume has skyrocketed by 188.64%, while its market capitalization has reached $9.7 billion.
