jakiro
Author: cole
On September 17, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made a decision that seemed dull but was actually enough to go down in history:Approved the “General Listing Standard” for Exchange Trading Products (ETPs) for spot commodities (including digital assets).
For outsiders, this is just a difficult piece of news.But for believers, developers and investors who have been struggling in the crypto world for many years, this is tantamount to a thunder.The official statement of SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins sounds restrained and professional:“This move aims to maximize investor choice and promote innovation by simplifying the listing process”.
But the market interpretation is more blunt and fanatical:The era of “ETPalooza” (ETP feast) for cryptocurrencies is here.
So what exactly does this wave mean?What kind of financial magic is hidden behind the mysterious code “ETP”?More importantly, when the green light of regulation lights up, how will this capital feast completely reshape the territory of the crypto world?
Your “encrypted ETF” is not a real ETF
To understand this change, we must first figure out the “alphabet soup” of Wall Street.The “encrypted ETF” we often call is actually a general term, and there are different product structures and risks behind it.
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ETP (exchange-traded product):This is the general term for all these products, which are like stocks, and can be bought and sold on exchanges at any time.
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ETF (exchange-traded fund):This is the “model student” in the family.It’s a realfund, directly hold a basket of assets it tracks (such as stocks, bonds).In the United States, the vast majority of ETFs are strictly regulated by the Investment Companies Act of 1940, which requires assets to be diversified and provides investors with the highest level of protection.
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ETC (exchange-traded goods):This is a “tailored” vest for cryptocurrencies.Since Bitcoin or Ethereum is a single asset that cannot meet the requirements of “diversification” in the 1940 Act, “spot Bitcoin ETP” is legally unable to register as a standard ETF.Its real structure is more like an ETC—a debt security that is secured by a single commodity (such as gold or Bitcoin) that is actually held.
Core difference:When you buy a so-called “spot Bitcoin ETF”, you are not buying a diversified fund that is fully protected by the 1940 Act.What you buy is a trust product that tracks a single asset and has a structure that is more like ETC.Although it is also traded on compliant exchanges, its inherent regulatory protection and risk profile are essentially different from traditional stock ETFs.
A revolutionary transformation of SEC approval
The new SEC regulations are equivalent to directly upgrading the issuance of encrypted ETP from a muddy, long manual review path to a highway with clear rules.
The Old World: The Long Wait
In the past, any spot crypto ETP that wanted to go public had to submit an application to the SEC separately. The entire process could be up to 240 days, and the results were full of uncertainty.The issuer must prove that it can “prevent fraud and market manipulation”, which is an extremely high threshold.
New Era: “Highway” opens
The new “general listing standard” completely changed all this.Now, as long as a crypto asset meets the preset standards, the relevant ETP products can be directly launched, and the entire process is shortened to 60-75 days.
The most critical criteria for the crypto industry are:The futures contract for the asset has been traded in a market regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for at least six months.The SEC’s move is very clever, using the achievements of its brother regulator, CFTC, to judge whether its corresponding spot market is healthy enough through a mature futures market.
“Green List” is released and key role clarification
According to this new rule, a “green list” immediately surfaced.All crypto assets traded for more than six months on the CFTC-regulated Coinbase Derivatives exchange, their spot ETP automatically receives a “highway pass”.This list includes:Bitcoin(BTC),Ethereum(ETH),Solana(SOL),Litecoin(LTC),Dogecoin(DOGE),Cardano(ADA),Avalanche(AVAX),Chainlink(LINK),Stellar(XLM) andRipple Coin(XRP)wait .
It must be noted here that the SEC approval order is forNasdaq, Cboe and NYSE ArcaThese are the “stores” that ultimately investors buy and sell ETP stocks.
So what is the role of Coinbase?It is the upstream “qualification center”.A futures contract for crypto assets has a six-month good trading record in Coinbase Derivatives, a CFTC-regulated market, and is its ticket to qualifying for the “fast lane”.
in short:Coinbase’s compliant futures market is the “touchstone”, while exchanges such as Nasdaq are the ultimate “trading market”.
“ETP Feast” begins
The SEC’s decision opened Pandora’s magic box, and its chain reaction will cause huge waves in every corner of the market.
1. Capital Reshaping: A “water diversion channel” of hundreds of billions of funds
The first batch of Bitcoin spot ETPs attracted more than $36 billion in net capital inflows within just one year after their launch.This proves how huge the suppressed investment demand in the market is.Many traditional investors are eager to enter the crypto market, but are blocked by technical thresholds such as managing private keys and using wallets.
Now, ETP has built a perfect bridge for them.They can buy Solana or Chainlink with one click in a familiar broker account, just like buying and selling Apple stocks.Analysts predict that “more than 100 crypto ETPs” may be released in the next 12 months, and a huge bull market driven by mainstream capital may be brewing.
2. Structural Reshaping: The crypto market has “Wall Street Time”
The emergence of ETP is fundamentally changing the “heartbeat rhythm” of the crypto market.
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“Four pm effect”:Since ETP issuers need to calculate the fund’s net asset value around 4 p.m. NY time, they must buy and sell real crypto assets in the market around this point in time.This has led to a predictable, huge peak in trading volumes on exchanges such as Coinbase at this time of day.The original 24/7 trading characteristics of the crypto market are gradually being “domesticized” and are beginning to synchronize with Wall Street’s work and schedule.
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The return of the “physical redemption” mechanism:Recently, the SEC finally approved the “physical redemption” mechanism.This means that large market makers can directly trade a basket of real bitcoins for ETP share, rather than through cash.This is the standard operating mode of most mature ETFs, which greatly reduces costs and improves efficiency.
3. Power Reshaping: Coinbase’s Gorgeous Turning and Exchange’s “New War”
The rise of ETP is rewriting the survival rules of crypto exchanges.For domestic American compliance giants like Coinbase, this is both a “danger” and an opportunity.”
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“Dangerous”It is that when investors can easily purchase crypto products through traditional brokers, some of Coinbase’s retail transaction fee income will undoubtedly be diverted.
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“machine”It’s even bigger.Coinbase is rapidly transforming into an “arms dealer” for the entire ETP ecosystem.It provides the most critical hosting, market data and monitoring services to almost all mainstream ETP publishers, opening up a lucrative and stable B2B organization business new world.
In contrast, exchanges with shallow foundations within the U.S. regulatory system will undoubtedly be on the defensive position when competing for this emerging institutional business.A new war on institutional services has begun.
summary
This “highway” paved by SEC for crypto ETP is undoubtedly a watershed in the history of crypto assets development..
However, this is just the prologue, far from the end.As crypto markets become deeply tied to traditional finance, it will increasingly be affected by macroeconomic data, Fed policies and global risk sentiment.For us who are in it, the only thing we can be sure of is:The rules of the game have changed.Understanding the rules, embracing changes, and always being in awe of risks will be the ultimate rule for survival and development in this exciting industry.
