Nashville Asset Manager Files for Litecoin ETF
Nashville’s Canary Capital has submitted an S-1 filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a Litecoin (LTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) on October 15.
This marks the first application for a spot ETF linked to Litecoin in the U.S., coming just days after the firm submitted a filing for an XRP ETF on October 8.
Steven McClurg, the CEO and founder of Canary Capital, previously served as the chief investment officer at Valkyrie Investments, where he co-founded the firm with Leah Wald.
Understanding Litecoin’s Unique Position
Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, noted that Litecoin is acknowledged for its “fair launch,” meaning there was no pre-mining or initial token sale.
Since Litecoin operates on a proof-of-work consensus mechanism, it was never offered to investors by any organization. Thorn elaborated:
“The SEC has not clearly stated its stance on the matter. However, it is improbable that Litecoin would be classified as a security, given the absence of any offering. Therefore, the path for launching spot Litecoin ETFs in the U.S. should be similar to that for Bitcoin.”
Thorn contrasts this with Solana’s situation, which has spot ETF filings hindered by its proof-of-stake model and a prior token sale.
He added that currently, the SEC is alleging that SOL falls under the category of a “crypto asset security” in its lawsuit against Coinbase.
According to Thorn:
“This distinction is why some believe that Solana ETF applications may hinge on future regulatory shifts, such as a change in how the SEC categorizes crypto assets as securities.”
Current Landscape of Litecoin ETPs
James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, highlights that European products like CoinShares’ LITE in Switzerland and ETC Group’s ELTC in Germany already incorporate Litecoin into their offerings. In contrast, the U.S. market is currently limited to the Grayscale Litecoin Trust (LTCN).
According to a recent report from CoinShares, the European LTC funds have combined assets under management (AUM) of $11.5 million, which accounts for under 10% of total global Litecoin-related ETPs.
Conversely, LTCN commands $127.4 million in AUM, representing a staggering 93% of the total investment in Litecoin-related ETPs worldwide.
