ETF issuers’ latest warning – SEC’s approval process ‘kills innovation, aids giants’

• ETF issuers are urging the SEC to restore “first-to-file” rule for fair application reviews
• Polymarket data revealed rising optimism for XRP and other crypto ETF approvals in 2025

ETF providers VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital have formally urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revert to the “first-to-file” framework for ETF application reviews.

ETF giants and their solution to pending ETFs

The firms contend that departing from this long-standing approval process, once standard before crypto ETFs entered the scene, disrupts market competitiveness. They also believe it stifles innovation in the financial sector.

A letter from these issuers noted,  

“It diminishes investor choice, compromises market efficiency, and fundamentally undermines the commission’s mission of protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation.”

Thus, as the SEC reviews a growing list of ETF applications tied to assets like Solana [SOL], Ripple [XRP], and Dogecoin [DOGE], industry players are raising concerns over fairness in the approval process.

How will this help?

These concerns stem from the agency’s decision to simultaneously approve multiple Spot Bitcoin [BTC] ETFs, regardless of when each application was submitted.

Needless to say, this approach weakens incentives for early innovation and creates hurdles for emerging issuers hoping to compete on merit.

The calls for a return to this traditional framework are intensifying, especially amid expectations that the regulatory environment may evolve under the influence of the Trump administration.

Polymarket data on altcoin ETFs

However, despite regulatory delays, market sentiment has been overwhelmingly optimistic, with the same reflected by Polymarket’s data.

In fact, according to the latest figures, approval odds for a Ripple ETF have surged to 89% for 2025 – A sign of growing investor confidence.

Source: PolyMarket

That’s not all. Approval chances for other altcoin ETFs remain upbeat – 76% for Solana, 52% for Dogecoin, 42% for Cardano [ADA], and 70% for Litecoin [LTC].

This bullish sentiment suggests that many investors believe the SEC will eventually approve an XRP ETF first by year’s end, followed by others. This simply reinforces broader expectations of greater institutional access to a diverse range of digital assets.