The SEC recently approved a seemingly unremarkable change to an ETF rule, but this may be more worth paying attention to than “some coin applying for an ETF.”
Because the game for Crypto ETFs is changing.
In the past, the routes everyone understood were basically:
BTC has a BTC ETF.
ETH has an ETH ETF.
If SOL wants to enter Wall Street, it applies for a SOL ETF.
If XRP wants to enter Wall Street, it applies for an XRP ETF.
One coin corresponds to one ETF.
But the new rules are opening another path:
Altcoins don’t necessarily need to have their own ETF; they could also be packaged into a Crypto index/combined ETF.
On September 3, the SEC approved Nasdaq Texas to amend the generic listing rules for Commodity-Based Trust Shares.
There are two changes that are especially crucial.
First:
Allow active management.
That means in the future, these funds don’t necessarily have to simply track a specific index mechanically.
Fund managers can actively adjust asset allocation based on strategy.
Today they might allocate a bit more to BTC, tomorrow a bit more to ETH; assuming the conditions are met, they can also add SOL, XRP, or other crypto assets.
This is increasingly starting to look like traditional funds.
The second change is even more interesting:
A fund can hold up to 15% of its NAV, allocating to digital commodities or specific securities that do not currently meet the requirements for ordinary, broadly available public listing.
The remaining at least 85% must still be assets that satisfy the existing qualification requirements.
Put simply:
Previously, Crypto ETFs were like a shelf—each product’s spot was basically fixed in advance.
Now the SEC is starting to allow fund managers to leave a small area:
That 15% portion can be more flexible.
What does this mean for altcoins?
Previously, for an altcoin to get funding from traditional finance, the most ideal outcome would be:
To apply for its own ETF.
But in reality, the number of coins that are truly eligible to do an ETF on their own is always just a small minority.
Now there is a second path:
You don’t have to open your own “store”; you can first get onto someone else’s shelf.
For example, in the future an actively managed Crypto ETF could allocate more than 85% to assets like BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP that meet the main conditions.
The remaining less than 15%, as long as it complies with regulatory rules, can be used to add other assets.
So even a crypto project with a mid-level market cap might get, for the first time, an opportunity to be allocated traditional securities account capital—even without its own ETF.
Of course, we must not interpret this as:
“The SEC allows ETFs to buy whatever 15% altcoins they want.”
That’s not what it means.
That 15% is still constrained by limitations such as the definition of the assets, custody, trading, regulation, and the fund’s own rules.
A MEME coin is hot today—tomorrow the fund manager puts 15% into a full-on gamble. Obviously, that’s not how these rules work.
What’s truly important is:
The SEC is taking Crypto ETFs from “one coin corresponds to one product” and gradually moving them toward the traditional-fund model of “standardization, combination, and active management.”
This change could be even more far-reaching than approving the 10th or 20th single-coin ETF.
Because once actively managed Crypto ETFs truly mature, the way Wall Street buys crypto in the future might become:
Not “research who the next ETF will be,”
but simply buy a fund.
The fund managers will allocate for them:
BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, and a portion of other crypto assets that meet the rules.
It’s the same for altcoins, too.
In the future, the truly important question may no longer be just:
“When will my ETF be approved?”
but rather:
“When will I be eligible to enter these crypto funds’ asset pool?”
These two questions may look similar, but the market size behind them is completely different.
What Crypto is going through might not be simply “there are more and more ETFs.”
Instead:
Wall Street is turning Crypto into fund products it is familiar with.
$BTC $ETH $SOL #crypto #etf #SEC