Litecoin LTC/USD 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.
See Also: Italy’s Largest Bank Leaps Into Bitcoin Trading With $1 Million ‘Test’ Investment But CEO Says He Doesn’t Invest In BTC Personally
The development spurred a 12% rally in LTC, a coin created from the hard fork of Bitcoin BTC/USD. 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 DOGE/USD 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.
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