Two ETFs tracking Solana futures launched in the U.S.

Two ETFs tracking Solana futures launched in the U.S. in March, but those funds provide indirect exposure to the digital asset by tracking the price of Solana futures contracts.

The Canadian market on Monday saw the launch of four new ETFs tracking the price of Solana (SOL), an event that marks a milestone in North America.

The U.S. is yet to see the launch of any such funds, despite several asset managers filing for them with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Meanwhile, Canada has raced ahead to launch both spot bitcoin and spot ether ETFs in 2021, while the U.S. is still awaiting the launch of such products.

“We are very proud and excited that Canada is [a leader] again in crypto,” said Vlad Tasevski, chief innovation officer with Purpose, in an interview with Blockworks.

What is Solana?

Launched in 2020, Solana is a public blockchain platform designed for decentralized applications and crypto transactions. SOL is the native cryptocurrency of the network, used in transactions and staking.

Solana also hosts several meme coins, such as the Trump meme coin, $TRUMP.

“It has multiple verticals, like [non-fungible tokens], gaming, storage, it facilitates transactions,” said Geraldo Ferreira, senior vice-president and head of investment products and manager oversight with CI GAM.

Solana is known for delivering faster and cheaper transactions than rival blockchains like Ethereum. However, Solana has experienced network outages and a major hack in the past, which critics see as a trade-off for its speed, with some calling the security of the platform into question.

Moreover, like other cryptocurrencies, SOL is volatile. Its price can fluctuate significantly due to various factors such as regulatory changes, technological advancements and overall market sentiment.

How do the four new Solana ETFs differ?

The new funds from 3iQ, Evolve, CI GAM and Purpose are similar, although they vary in staking approaches, management fees and other ways.

“Our fund and our competitors’ funds, we’re all holding physical SOL, so there’s no difference in the underlying asset,” said Elliot Johnson, chief investment officer and chief operating officer with Evolve.

“It really has more to do with the packaging.”

In addition to providing spot Solana exposure, all four funds intend to stake a portion of their SOL holdings in order to earn rewards of additional SOL tokens.

Staking is part of a process that validates transactions and helps to secure blockchain networks like Solana and Ethereum, said Josh Deems, head of sales, Americas with Toronto-based institutional staking provider Figment, which 3iQ selected as the primary staking provider for its fund, the Solana Staking ETF (TSX: SOLQ).

“Let’s say you have one Solana [token] per share at the launch. The idea is you’re going to have more Solana per share over time, because there are going to be rewards that accrue to the fund. So, there’s going to be a larger pool of Solana based on the same amount of units,” Deems explained.

“Secondary to that is the security to the network. You’re actively making sure that that network is running effectively by using an ETF that’s staking the asset. The knock-on effect is the financial reward, but also, … you’re directly contributing to the operability of that particular network.”

There are different approaches to staking, though. For one, Evolve has noted that it intends to initially target staking of up to 50% of the Solana tokens held in the portfolio of its fund, the Evolve Solana ETF (TSX: SOLA, SOLA.U). Meanwhile, CI GAM has said that as the manager of the CI Galaxy Solana ETF (TSX: SOLX), it’s entitled to up to 35% of the net rewards from staking, while no less than 65% will accrue to the ETF.

Staking has potential downsides and risks, including liquidity lockups.

Management fees are another differentiator.

3iQ’s SOLQ will have a 0% management fee for the first 12 months (possibly longer), with the fee becoming 0.15% thereafter, said Greg Benhaim, executive vice-president of products and head of training with 3iQ.

CI GAM has waived the fee of SOLX until July 16, so the fund will have a 0% management fee until that day, when it will be 0.35%.

Evolve has waived the management fee of SOLA (the Canadian-dollar unhedged version of the fund) and SOLA.U (the U.S.-dollar version of the fund) for the remainder of 2025. As of Jan. 1, 2026, a 1.00% management fee will apply to the fund.

The Purpose Solana ETF (TSX: SOLL) has a 0.39% management fee.

There are some other notable differences.

That includes different approaches to staking infrastructure. For example, 3iQ