Written by: Martin
The Bitcoin spot ETF took nearly a decade to get approved, while the altcoin spot ETF only took six months.
In November 2025, Wall Street experienced an incredible transformation: Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin—once regarded by mainstream financial institutions as "speculative toys"—collectively landed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq as regulated ETF products within just a few weeks.
This shift was primarily due to the "Universal Listing Standard" approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in September 2025, which opened a fast-track listing process for crypto assets that meet specific conditions, allowing them to be listed for trading without undergoing strict individual approvals.
On September 17, 2025, the SEC approved the proposed amendments to the "Universal Listing Standard" put forth by three major exchanges, allowing crypto assets that meet specific conditions to be listed directly without individual approvals.
The core entry requirements include: either the asset has at least six months of trading history in a CFTC-regulated futures market, and the exchange has a monitoring agreement with that market; or there is a precedent of an ETF holding at least 40% exposure to that asset. Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin all happen to meet these standards.
The centralized listing of altcoin ETFs is reshaping the entire crypto market's landscape and valuation logic. The launch of ETFs has intensified the liquidity stratification in the crypto market, with the first tier consisting of ETF assets like BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, and DOGE, which have compliant fiat entry points, allowing registered investment advisors and pension funds to allocate without barriers, enjoying "compliance premiums" and lower liquidity risks.
The second tier consists of non-ETF assets, including other Layer 1 and DeFi tokens. Due to the lack of ETF channels, these assets will continue to rely on retail funding and on-chain liquidity, facing the risk of being marginalized. This differentiation is driving the valuation logic of the crypto market from speculation-driven to a polarized valuation based on compliance channels and institutional allocations.
As Bitcoin fell from its peak of $126,000 in early 2025 to around $80,000 by the end of November, the entire crypto market was shrouded in a downward shadow. However, this did not hinder the pace of altcoin ETF listings; in the next 6-12 months, the market may see more assets (like Avalanche and Chainlink) attempting to replicate this path.
ETFs will become the most important watershed distinguishing "core assets" from "marginal assets." A market that was once driven by speculation and narratives is evolving towards a new order anchored in compliance channels and institutional allocations.
This process is now irreversible.
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