The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) raised concerns over the status of Solana as a security during discussions with prospective issuers of Solana ETFs. This happened before the Cboe BZX eliminated related 19b-4 filings from its site, as said by an insider.
The SEC did not approve the 19b-4 forms, indicated another source. As a result, these were not found on the Cboe site anymore or filed with the Federal Register, which would have initiated the approval process. This situation would have forced the SEC to make decisions on the Solana ETFs.
The 19b-4 filings which exchanges file on behalf of issuers, vanished from the Cboe website over the weekend and are not present with the Federal Register currently.
ETFs need the 19b-4 forms to receive approval and the S-1 registration statements to become effective. However, there are no specific deadlines imposed by the SEC on the S-1 forms.
Currently, 21Shares and VanEck are contending for the release of a Solana ETF. Both are still found on the SEC’s filing system, EDGAR. VanEck’s head of research, Matthew Sigel, states that its application is still in operation.
Issuers were not surprised by the SEC sharing this viewpoint as it had previously referred to Solana as a security in several court filings, as per an source. They also foresaw potential challenges with these applications.
They believe that there will be new filings or revisions to the 19b-4s in the future. These efforts would strengthen the argument that Solana is not a security.