Crypto index fund manager Bitwise has introduced a Solana staking exchange-traded product (ETP) in Europe under the ticker BSOL.

The move comes as Bitwise continues to await U.S. regulatory approval for its Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Launched on December 17, the new ETP offers investors an annual percentage yield (APY) of 6.48%, surpassing similar offerings from competitors like 21Shares, which provides a 5.49% APY, the firm said in a recent press release.

Bitwise Sets BSOL’s Management Fee at 0.85%

The management fee for BSOL is 0.85%, significantly lower than 21Shares’ 2.5% fee.

The product was developed in partnership with Marinade, a self-custodial automation tool.

The launch of BSOL follows Bitwise’s earlier introduction of ESOL, a Solana-based ETP that debuted in August after the firm’s acquisition of nine European-listed crypto ETPs from the ETC Group.

While ESOL does not support staking rewards, BSOL aims to address this gap by incorporating the staking feature.

“Solana is one of the rising star assets in the space, and we’re thrilled to be launching BSOL, the third staking ETP we are launching this year, after the Ethereum and Aptos staking ETPs in February and November respectively,” said Hunter Horsley, CEO and Co-Founder at Bitwise.

Bitwise’s efforts to expand in Europe come as it continues to pursue regulatory approval for a spot Solana ETF in the United States.

In November, the firm registered a statutory trust in Delaware, a step toward filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Industry insiders remain optimistic about the potential for a U.S.-approved Solana ETF, with VanEck’s head of digital asset research, Matthew Sigel, predicting high chances of approval by the end of 2025.

The addition of BSOL is part of Bitwise’s broader strategy to expand its crypto ETP offerings, which now account for over $4.5 billion in assets under management.

The ESOL product alone currently holds $24 million in assets.

Bitwise’s chief investment officer, Matt Hougan, and research head, Ryan Rasmussen, have also made bold forecasts, predicting Bitcoin could reach $200,000 by 2025 and eventually surpass gold’s $18 trillion market cap by 2029.

Solana Outpaces Ethereum in Terms of New Developers

Bitwise’s focus on Solana products comes as the ecosystem continues to attract more users and developers.

A recent developer report by Electric Capital revealed that Solana has attracted more new developers than Ethereum for the first year since 2016. This is because, in July, Solana onboarded more developers than Ethereum.

The report found that 7,625 out of 39,148 new developers in 2024 used Solana as their first blockchain. Meanwhile, 6,456 have explored Ethereum this year.

Furthermore, institutional investment in Solana-based blockchain applications rebounded in the third quarter of 2024, with Solana’s decentralized applications (DApps) attracting $173 million across 29 funding rounds.

The post Bitwise Launches Solana Staking ETP in Europe as U.S. Awaits ETF Approval appeared first on Cryptonews.

PENGU, the newly-launched cryptocurrency of the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem, suffered a sharp decline in value a day after it went live.

At the time of writing, data from CoinGecko showed that the token had fallen by 57.8% within 24 hours to settle at $0.02892.

Airdrop Aftermath

The highly-anticipated airdrop launched on December 17 saw about 62.8 billion PENGU tokens distributed to millions of qualified NFT holders, traders, and team members.

However, following an initial surge that catapulted the token into the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, it suffered a swift sell-off that saw its value plummet by more than 60%, falling from a high of $0.06845 to a low of $0.027.

Interestingly, the damage wasn’t limited to the cryptocurrency, with Pudgy Penguins’ NFT collection suffering a similar fate. Within a single day, it saw its floor price plunge by more than 48% to 17.1 ETH,  about $64,450, a stark contrast to its all-time high (ATH) level of 36.33 ETH.

The downtrend notwithstanding, information from CryptoSlam showed an increase in trading activity, with the collection’s daily sales volume skyrocketing 258% to $21.7 million. While some investors cashed out their holdings, others used the opportunity to buy the dip, with the average sale price currently sitting at 19.89 ETH.

A Pattern of Post-Airdrop Volatility

While the rapid drop in PENGU’s market value may have raised some eyebrows, the phenomenon is not particularly new, with several other cryptocurrency giveaways leading to a market frenzy.

Some observers have attributed this to an emerging trend among airdrop recipients who quickly cash out their holdings, leading to a marked price instability at the beginning of a coin’s post-distribution trading.

For example, NFT marketplace Magic Eden’s ME token and Movement Network’s MOVE also experienced similar patterns following their respective airdrops. Both of them registered sharp divestment, with ME in particular losing 80% of its value as thousands of claimants exited their positions.

However, regardless of the turbulence, PENGU still retains a market cap just shy of $2 billion, placing it at #78 among the largest cryptocurrencies in the market. Additionally, as of this writing, its price had made some marginal recoveries and was 10.5% above its lowest level recorded only hours ago.

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