Last night, the application for Solana ETF caused SOL to suddenly pull up a few points, and also led the originally falling market to move upward.

Solana ETF is coming sooner than expected, but the approval rate is still unknown. Whether it is approved or not, it is enough to excite the dormant crypto community. After all, this round of the market can be described as an ETF bull market.

Bitcoin is the only bull

After the spot ETF was approved, BTC, as a representative of digital assets, became the first "logically proven" target in the cryptocurrency circle.

Bitcoin spot ETFs have given Wall Street a formal channel to allocate crypto assets, bringing a large amount of off-market funds to the crypto market. It can also be seen from the key nodes of Bitcoin's rise that the rise from $25,000 to $69,000 was almost entirely driven by ETFs. Whether it is a victory in a lawsuit or fake news, the stimulation of the news has always been a concern for the market.

In comparison, the altcoins are struggling to catch up with the rise of BTC. The major positive impact of the Cancun upgrade on the Ethereum ecosystem was diluted, and Solana made a brilliant debut with the meme coin, but the pre-sale and celebrity coins that emerged continued to disrupt the market trend. In addition, the rise of PumpFun has further divided the market attention with memes. Crypto VCs have been constantly squeezed to the opposite side of retail investors by highly profitable memes and airdrops.

At the same time, the Bitcoin ecosystem, led by Rune, has been developing strongly. Due to the lack of a clear business model and asset logic, many people believe that this cycle is the "sole bull" of Bitcoin.

BlackRock takes the lead

If we have to find a reason to start this round of bull market, it must be BlackRock. In the context of the market being in a deep bear state and the industry facing high-pressure supervision, BlackRock's ETF single-handedly reversed the situation in the crypto market.

After the launch of the Bitcoin spot ETF, IBIT was also the one with the strongest performance and the best liquidity. Last week, HODL15Capital listed the top ten companies holding Bitcoin in the world so far, and BlackRock's IBIT ranked first with 305,614 BTC.

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As a financial giant that manages $10 trillion in assets, the SEC seems to have to give way to BlackRock.

The market value of tokenized U.S. Treasuries has grown significantly this year, with tokenized RWAs (including Treasuries, bonds, and cash equivalents) up 35% in the two months. Leading the way is BlackRock’s BUIDL, which has grown 65% since the beginning of the quarter, pushing the total market value of tokenized Treasuries to over $1.5 billion. Over the same period, Ondo Finance, one of the leading RWA-focused DeFi protocols, saw its total locked value increase from $221 million in April to $507 million.

Less than a month after BUIDL was launched, the Ethereum spot ETF, which had regulatory issues with staking, staged a dramatic turnaround and was approved directly on one application.

On May 24, the Ethereum spot ETF went from being unpopular with only a 7% approval rate to a 75% approval rate overnight, and the ETH price also repeatedly broke through the $3,800 mark.

BlackRock's three moves have helped resolve the many difficulties that the SEC has brought to the industry over the past year. The big brother leads the charge, and a series of younger brothers follow to eat meat. BlackRock has led countless institutions to enter the market, and a new situation has emerged in the mainstreaming process of "crypto logic/crypto terminology".

Can altcoins also be covered by ETF funds?

Whether there is still a bull market for altcoins has been a question that the cryptocurrency circle has been discussing for the past six months.

On the one hand, VC funds are large in size, and the number of new retail investors entering the market is lower than expected. It is difficult for funds to take over new coins and old coins that are still alive in the market, resulting in the increase in project valuations in the primary market, and high FDV and low circulation after the token is launched. Secondly, due to the saturation of applications in the last round of bull market, the block space is "overloaded". VC funds during the bear market are mainly deployed in the infrastructure field, resulting in the lag in the development of the application layer that users perceive most obviously, and the problem of "narrative poverty" appears when the market suddenly ushered in a market.

But in the final analysis, what everyone is most worried about is that the money coming in from the Bitcoin ETF will not flow into altcoins.

In the last cycle, crypto institutions promoted the growth of the overall crypto market value by pledging BTC and increasing leverage, and then these leveraged funds flowed into the altcoin market, thus bringing about the so-called altcoin bull market. However, the logic has obviously changed in this cycle. Spot ETFs are managed by custodians and cannot be leveraged, which directly killed an important source of funds for the altcoin market.

However, the new developments of ETH and SOL spot ETFs this month have brought newer and clearer logic to attracting and creating liquidity in the crypto industry. ETF funds will not be exclusive to Bitcoin, but will also cover altcoins.

But the next question is, will consumers in the capital market pay for crypto assets other than Bitcoin?

It may be difficult in the short term, as the world's general perception of cryptocurrency is still Bitcoin. It will take some time to digest concepts such as smart contracts, the differences between Ethereum and Solana, etc., but this is precisely where the business opportunities for institutions such as BlackRock lie.

In contrast, the entry of traditional institutions may lead to the gradual squeezing of the market for many crypto-native institutions, especially roles such as market makers and OTCs. The regular army can bring in funds, but they can also steal your job.

In short, regardless of whether the SOL ETF is approved or how the ETH ETF performs in the future, the logic and trend of the ETF bull market seem to be unstoppable.

Later, I will bring you analysis of leading projects in other tracks. If you are interested, you can click to follow. I will also organize some cutting-edge consulting and project reviews from time to time. Welcome all like-minded people in the cryptocurrency circle to explore together.