According to a document submitted on Thursday to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nasdaq has requested a regulatory amendment to allow the listing of VanEck’s Avalanche ETF.
This request represents the latest step in a series of similar initiatives featuring some of the leading fund management companies, aiming to ride the wave of growing interest in alternative digital assets to Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Nasdaq focuses on altcoins with VanEck’s Avalanche ETF and others
The request by Nasdaq follows a month after the one submitted directly by VanEck to launch its ETF based on Avalanche, and comes shortly after a similar request, filed by Nasdaq itself, to list an ETF on Avalanche by the company Grayscale.
These initiatives mark a significant expansion of the financial product offerings focused on altcoin, and reflect the efforts of the issuers in responding to the growing demand from investors.
Confidence in the sector is supported by the success of spot funds on Bitcoin and Ethereum, introduced last year, which together have attracted over 35 billion dollars in net inflows. A result that has strengthened interest in other blockchain projects and their respective digital assets, such as Solana, Ripple (XRP), Litecoin, Sui, and Avalanche itself.
A more favorable regulatory environment for digital assets
The growing interest in altcoin ETFs is accompanied by a regulatory environment more favorable to criptovalute, favored by the current US administration. This climate has encouraged numerous fund managers to seek new opportunities.
As evidence of this trend, on the same Thursday, 21Shares also submitted a proposal to launch an ETF linked to Dogecoin, the popular crypto born as a meme, thus joining the names of Grayscale and Bitwise, which have made similar requests.
According to James Seyffart, ETF analyst at Bloomberg, both the ETF on Avalanche and the one on Dogecoin have good chances of receiving approval from the SEC. In an email sent to Decrypt, Seyffart stated that a possible approval for AVAX is expected by the end of December, while for DOGE the timeline could extend until mid-October.
The crucial element, however, will be determining which cryptocurrencies will meet any criteria that the SEC will establish to classify eligible assets for inclusion in an ETF. “We are waiting to see where the SEC will draw the line,” explained Seyffart.
The potential of Avalanche between technology and market analysis
Currently, AVAX is the sixteenth cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and according to the data provided by CoinGecko, it was trading around $18.30, with a decrease of 1.6% in the last 24 hours. Despite this price representing a drop of over 87% compared to the all-time high near $145 recorded at the end of 2021, the long-term prospects appear decidedly more optimistic.
At the beginning of April, the well-known British bank Standard Chartered began covering the performance of Avalanche, hypothesizing that the price of AVAX could reach **$250 by the end of the decade**, an increase of over 1,300% compared to the current value.
Behind these forecasts is the particular technical architecture of the Avalanche network, which stands out for the use of dedicated L1 application networks, previously known as “subnets.” According to Geoff Kendrick, head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, the current low market capitalization of Avalanche represents a competitive advantage: every technological improvement can indeed produce significant impacts on the asset’s price.
“For this reason, we expect AVAX to outperform both Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of relative price appreciation.”
Towards a new era for altcoin ETFs
The demand for investment instruments linked to emerging digital assets is becoming increasingly strong, and financial institutions seem to be responding with ever-greater speed. If the prospects for approval by the SEC materialize as expected, we might witness a second wave of crypto ETFs, this time focused on altcoins that offer technological innovation and scalability.
The potential debut of the VanEck Avalanche ETF on the Nasdaq stock exchange would constitute an important piece in this new phase of the markets, offering institutional and retail investors further regulated access to one of the most promising blockchain projects in the sector.
While the spotlight remains on Bitcoin and Ethereum, Avalanche is preparing to climb positions thanks to the push from banks, funds, and exchanges, opening the doors to a 2025 that could redefine the interaction between traditional finance and the crypto world.