Nasdaq Pushes for VanEck Avalanche ETF: Can AVAX Ride the TradFi Wave?

Nasdaq has recently filed a 19b-4 application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), requesting a rule change to allow the listing and trading of shares for the VanEck Avalanche ETF. This development follows VanEck's submission of an S-1 registration statement for the Avalanche ETF in March 2025, marking a significant step forward just a month later. Notably, two weeks prior, Nasdaq filed a similar rule change application for Grayscale's Avalanche fund.

Avalanche, renowned for its high throughput, low latency, and scalability, is a Layer-1 blockchain platform that has garnered attention from numerous traditional financial institutions due to its compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and flexibility in decentralized application (DApp) development. In November 2024, global asset management giant BlackRock expanded its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) to the Avalanche network. Additionally, JPMorgan and Mastercard have collaborated with Avalanche to explore tokenization and digital asset management projects. Recently, Standard Chartered Bank has initiated coverage on Avalanche, estimating that the AVAX token price could soar to $250 by 2029. As of April 11 2025, AVAX, the native token of the Avalanche network, is trading at $18.48 and boasts a market capitalization of approximately $7.7 billion, ranking 15th in the cryptocurrency market according to data from Coingecko.

VanEck has successfully launched Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs and filed the first U.S. Solana ETF application in June 2024. The Avalanche ETF represents its fourth independent crypto ETF project, showcasing its continued expansion in the digital asset investment sector.

Since the approval and launch of BTC and ETH-related ETFs in 2024, the BTC ETF has attracted $35.36 billion, while the ETH ETF has drawn $2.30 billion, highlighting the robust demand for crypto assets. As we enter 2025, asset management companies are actively responding to the demand for crypto investment products, leading to a surge in ETF applications for top altcoins. On April 9, 21Shares applied for a Dogecoin ETF, joining the ranks of Grayscale and Bitwise. Additionally, issuers have been seeking to offer funds tracking popular assets such as Solana, XRP, Litecoin, and Sui.