Ark will launch a Solana ecosystem venture capital fund! Cathie Wood: US regulatory easing is key for open encryption ETF staking.

Cathie Wood, founder of Ark Investments (ARK Invest), and Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, have significantly surpassed Ethereum for Solana developers at the "Solana Ship or Die" conference on May 24 (Ethereum). Discussions on topics such as regulatory relaxation in the United States and open staking of crypto ETFs. Wood further revealed that Ark not only launched the "Solana Ecological Venture Capital Fund", but also is preparing the world's first "active crypto fund", which is expected to attract more traditional asset managers to participate in the future and accelerate the integration of Web3 and traditional financial markets.

Balchunas online poll, Solana wins big over Ethereum and XRP

Balchunas opened by stating that although this is his first time participating in a Solana event, he has been quite attentive to the encryption industry over the past two years. Balchunas also shared the poll data he initiated on Twitter (X), where he asked netizens which they would choose among Ether (Ethereum), Solana, and XRP, with the results:

Solana: 46%

Ethereum: 38%

XRP: 16%

Balchunas stated:

"From the consumer's perspective, this is quite reasonable."

The number of Solana developers has surpassed that of Ethereum, as it focuses on "general users" as the key.

Wood further added that Solana has demonstrated "antifragile" characteristics throughout the entire bull-bear cycle, and in July 2024, the number of developers even surpassed Ethereum, becoming the most popular platform among developers. She emphasized:

"ARK has always advocated following the developers. Ethereum is increasingly leaning towards institutional applications, but Solana continues to attract regular users with its low transaction fees and rapid optimizations."

The staking yield of cryptocurrency ETFs may be considerable, but regulatory relaxation remains the focus.

Regarding whether Solana spot ETFs will be launched in the US market, Wood expressed high expectations. However, whether US regulators will allow encryption ETFs to support the stake mechanism (Staking) remains key. If the US opens up encryption ETF staking in the future, the returns will be even more attractive.

She pointed out that the cryptocurrency ETF launched by the Canadian asset management company 3iQ allows staking of SOL and ETH within the ETF. Here are the annualized returns of SOL and ETH currently in the 3iQ cryptocurrency ETF, as disclosed by Wood:

SOL: 6-8%

ETH: 2-3%

From rejection to discussing solutions, the new SEC policy shift.

Balchunas mentioned that Grayscale (Grayscale) has indicated that the atmosphere of meetings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has become much more relaxed, shifting from a complete rejection in the past to now discussing viable solutions together. Wood also believes: "The withdrawal of the lawsuit is the first step, and the entire regulatory atmosphere is changing."

Wood continues the previous topic, emphasizing:

"If even BlackRock wants to push for a Solana ETF, it should mean that this market really has a chance."

Solana is expected to be included in technology ETFs, and other institutions will also lay out plans for Solana.

Wood stated that while Solana is not like stocks, as a digital asset, it will be incorporated into technology or fintech-type ETFs in the future in a manner similar to stocks. She stated:

"In the future, not only AR will participate, but other large asset management firms may follow suit."

Solana has low transaction fees and a great user experience, even Kraken is interested.

Wood shares that in the past, buying Bitcoin (Bitcoin) was troublesome as one had to create a wallet themselves, and the transaction fee was 1.5%, which was simply unacceptable for TradFi players.

In contrast, Solana has characteristics such as low transaction fees and fast transactions, making it significantly more attractive. Even the exchange Kraken has chosen to issue tokenized stocks of NVIDIA ( and Tesla ) on Solana. This shows that Solana has become the blockchain platform of choice for the average consumer.

ARK launches Solana ecosystem venture capital fund, potentially introducing an active encryption fund in the future.

Wood announced that ARK will also establish an innovation center in Florida and launch an early-stage blockchain venture capital fund focused on consumer-oriented Solana ecosystem. In the future, an "active encryption fund" will also be launched, utilizing on-chain analysis to create excess returns.

Encryption assets are an insurance mechanism, Web3 reshapes the global financial system.

Wood shared: "I just chatted with a friend from Pakistan, and he said that only 300,000 people have securities accounts, but 50 million people have encryption wallets." She pointed out that this is the impact that blockchain is actually having.

She further believes that crypto ETFs will become a bridge for ordinary users to enter Web3, and crypto wallets are the ticket to decentralization. She stated:

"If something happens to TradFi, this is your insurance."

(Solana Are ETFs coming to market this year? CBOE again filed a listing application with the SEC )

In this article, AR will launch the Solana ecosystem venture capital fund! Cathie Wood: US regulatory easing is key for open encryption ETF staking. First appeared in Chain News ABMedia.