Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC) surged as one of the market's biggest gainers Thursday after the Nasdaq stock exchange submitted a request to the SEC to list a spot exchange-traded fund tracking the coin's price.
What happened: The exchange submitted a 19b-4 application with the regulator to list shares of an ETF applied by digital asset trading firm Canary Capital.
The filing of the 19b-4 document marks the second step in the ETF approval process, which followed Canary Capital’s amended S-1 registration application on Wednesday. According to the rules, the SEC has 240 days to deny or approve the 19b-4 application.
Responding to the filing, leading ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said that Litecoin ETF has "all the boxes checked" and is set to become the first altcoin ETF of 2025.
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The development spurred a 12% rally in LTC, a coin created from the hard fork of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC). The proof-of-work cryptocurrency witnessed a 50% jump in trading volumes to $2.34 billion.
LTC was up over 22% year-to-date, as excitement around its potential ETF reached a fever peak.
Also dubbed the “digital silver” to Bitcoin’s gold, Litecoin is widely seen as a commodity and has escaped scrutiny from U.S. regulators.
Interestingly, the Dogecoin’s (CRYPTO: DOGE) network’s underlying technology is derived from Litecoin.
Speculative interest in LTC exploded, with a 23% jump in money invested in futures contracts, according to Coinglass.
More than 50% of traders placed bullish bets on the coin, anticipating further increases.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Litecoin was exchanging hands at $135.30, up 13.81% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Image via Pexels
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