SEC Clears Path for Faster Crypto ETF Approvals

Plus: 🔗 Wormhole revamps W tokenomics, 📊 CME eyes SOL & XRP options, 🏛️ op-ed: U.S. is stuck in CeFi at DeFi’s expense.

Author

Juan Aranovich
September 18, 2025

If you’re in New York City, we’ve got something special for you.

Complete our quick audience survey and you could grab a free ticket to the Aptos Experience in NYC. We have 10 tickets reserved for Unchained Daily readers.

Hi! In today’s edition:

• 🚀 SEC just made crypto ETFs faster to launch

• 🪙 Wormhole revamps tokenomics with staking rewards

• 💹 CME preps Solana & XRP options contracts

• ⚠️ Opinion: America’s CeFi focus threatens DeFi’s future

A shoutout to Token2049 and Ledn for sponsoring today’s issue.

Supporting them helps us keep bringing you the top crypto stories. Check them out!

Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Tom Lee headline TOKEN2049 Singapore, October 1-2.

Join 25,000 attendees at the world’s largest crypto event.

How do you access capital when all your wealth is tied up in Bitcoin? LEDN solves this with Bitcoin-backed loans - you get the liquidity you need while keeping your Bitcoin position intact.

No selling, no taxable events, just capital when you need it.

Trusted since 2018 with 1,000+ verified reviews.

By Tikta

SEC Clears Path for Faster Crypto ETF Approvals

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved generic listing standards for crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — something that will significantly speed up the approval process.

Under the new rules, a crypto ETF can list quickly as long as it trades on an exchange that's part of the Intermarket Surveillance Group, which has systems to watch for market fraud, or is the underlying asset for a futures contract that’s been listed on a regulated market for at least six months, with agreements to share market data for monitoring purposes.

ETFs with at least 40% of their assets invested in a crypto that's already tracked by another ETF listed on a major U.S. exchange would also be eligible to list under the new standards.

“This approval helps to maximize investor choice and foster innovation by streamlining the listing process and reducing barriers to access digital asset products within America’s trusted capital markets,” said SEC Chairman Paul Atkins in a statement.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas explained that generic listing standards would enable crypto ETFs to launch with a fast-tracked timeline, so long as they have futures on Coinbase. 

Currently, crypto futures on Coinbase include BTC, ETH, LTC, SOL, DOT, DOGE, ADA, AVAX, LINK, XLM and XRP.

LIVE TODAY on Unchained at 8:30 am ET! Should New Chains Be Ethereum Rollups or L1s?

Justin Bons of Cyber Capital and Haonan Li of Codex face off to discuss live, moderated by Laura Shin. Catch it on X or YouTube.

Wormhole Reveals Major W Tokenomics Overhaul

Cross-chain protocol Wormhole released an upgraded tokenomics plan for its native W token, introducing a strategic reserve that’s funded by both onchain and off-chain revenue.

The reserve is part of three main changes: the strategic reserve itself, introducing a 4% base staking yield for governance participants, and transitioning from annual token unlock cliffs to predictable bi-weekly unlocks starting October.

The bi-weekly unlocks, however, won’t be applicable to the Foundation Treasury, which will follow its original daily four-year schedule. Core contributor allocations will also follow their original unlock schedule, time-locked under contractual safeguards.

Staking rewards and yields will be sourced from existing token supply and protocol revenue, with no new W minted to keep its total supply capped at 10 billion tokens.

“While staking is a variable reward, holders will be able to receive higher rewards by being active users of ecosystem applications,” said Wormhole.

The W token saw a sharp rally after news of the tokenomics upgrade, surging 15% in the last day to an intraday high of $0.10. W is still trading 93% below its all-time high of $1.61 from April 2024.

CME Group Plans Solana and XRP Options Rollout

The CME Group, the world's largest operator of financial derivatives exchanges, plans to launch options on Solana (SOL) and XRP futures next month.

In an announcement on Wednesday, the firm said it will go live with the new products on Oct. 13, pending regulatory approval.

The new options contracts will be available on both standard and micro sizes, with expiry dates offered daily, monthly, and quarterly for flexible trading strategies.

“The launch of these options contracts builds on the significant growth and increasing liquidity we have seen across our suite of Solana and XRP futures,” said CME Global Head of Crypto Giovanni Vicioso.

Since their launch in March, $22.3 billion worth of SOL futures and $16.2 billion worth of XRP futures have been traded on CME. 

America Is Becoming The Crypto Capital of CeFi. Here’s Why That Must Change

OP-ED by Alex Urbelis

Bo Hines left his perch in the White House with without making much progress on decentralized crypto. Here’s how his successor Patrick Witt can become a champion of DeFi.

  • 🧠 Wall Street firm Defiance moved to bring a complex crypto arbitrage trade — profiting from price gaps between spot and futures markets — into the mainstream via two proposed ETFs targeting bitcoin and ether.

  • 🔄 Move Industries announced it will convert its Movement L2 project into a standalone layer 1 blockchain by year-end to boost speed, launch new staking features, and move beyond a sidechain model after a high-profile leadership scandal.

  • 🕵️‍♀️ Elizabeth Warren and fellow lawmakers demanded records from David Sacks, Trump’s crypto and AI adviser, over concerns he may have illegally exceeded his White House time limit while still managing his private investment firm.

  • 📊 Curve Finance proposed launching “Yield Basis,” a $60 million strategy to transform its CRV token into an income-generating asset by rewarding governance participants with a share of future returns from Bitcoin-focused liquidity pools.

  • 🎯 Prediction market Kalshi joined forces with Solana and Base to launch a builder-focused ecosystem hub, using grant funding to accelerate growth as it narrows the trading volume gap with competitor Polymarket.

  • 🗳️ The Compound DAO voted overwhelmingly against revoking $13 million in governance tokens from select delegates, despite criticism that the allocation favored insiders and undermined the protocol’s founding principle of stake-based voting power.

  • 📊 The SEC approved Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund as the first U.S. crypto ETP offering exposure to multiple major tokens like bitcoin, ether, XRP, solana, and cardano, making diversified crypto investing more accessible to traditional investors.

  • 🏦 DBS, Franklin Templeton, and Ripple teamed up to launch tokenized lending on the XRP Ledger, letting institutions swap between stablecoins and tokenized funds like sgBENJI, with future plans to use those assets as collateral for credit.

  • 🇦🇺 Australia’s financial watchdog granted temporary license exemptions for firms distributing stablecoins from already-licensed issuers, aiming to reduce red tape while the government finalizes long-term stablecoin regulations.

  • 📊 Forward Industries filed for a $4 billion equity sale program to fund operations and grow its already massive Solana treasury, which now holds 6.8 million SOL—more than any other publicly traded company.

  • 🏗️ Mavryk Network secured $10 million from MultiBank to support its effort to tokenize over $10 billion worth of UAE real estate, using Fireblocks’ secure infrastructure to let users trade property-backed tokens.