As anticipation builds across the crypto market over which altcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will receive a go-ahead from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart has raised the odds for it happening.

According to his latest forecast, the chances for Solana (SOL) and Litecoin (LTC) spot ETFs being greenlighted stand at 90%.

Approval Odds

The analyst shared the updated forecasts in a June 10 X post. XRP is not far behind with 85% odds, followed by Dogecoin (DOGE) at 80%. Other tokens, such as Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), Hedera (HBAR), and Avalanche (AVAX), are each sitting at 75%.

The SEC has been actively reviewing proposals for spot Solana ETFs. According to a report from Blockworks, the agency has reportedly asked issuers to submit updated S1 registration forms next week with plans to review and comment on the filings within 30 days.

Sources cited also said it requested that they clarify how they would handle staking and in-kind redemptions. These updates suggest that the SEC is now more open to allowing staking as part of a Solana ETF structure. One source estimated that these changes could speed up the process, possibly putting the investment vehicles on track for approval within the next three to five weeks.

Several major firms are in the race to launch a Solana ETF, including Grayscale, VanEck, 21Shares, Canary Capital, Bitwise, and Franklin Templeton.

Seyffart mentioned in a note that the financial watchdog may begin reviewing their 19b4 filings sooner than expected, especially those involving staking. He added that issuers have likely been working closely with the SEC and its crypto task force to fine-tune the details.

Expert Says Delays Are Normal

The regulator had formally acknowledged Grayscale’s Solana ETF proposal in February. However, it later delayed its decision in May, citing unresolved issues. More recently, the agency also postponed decisions on proposals from Bitwise and 21Shares. This was due to the need for more time to examine technical, legal, and investor-protection aspects.

Commenting on this trend, the Bloomberg analyst said that such delays are expected in the approval process. He explained that if the SEC were to greenlight any altcoin ETFs early, it would not happen before late June or early July. According to him, a more realistic timeline would be sometime in the fourth quarter of 2025.

While the U.S market waits, other countries are setting the pace. In August 2024, Brazil moved ahead with its first spot Solana ETF offered by QR Asset, with a similar product from Hashdex following shortly after.

Ethereum (ETH) isn’t just climbing price-wise; it’s also positioning itself as the centerpiece of a massive derivatives play, with data from CoinGlass showing ETH futures open interest (OI) has surged to a historic high, going past $41 billion.

This milestone coincided with Ethereum breaking key resistance levels and significantly outpacing Bitcoin (BTC) in derivatives trading volume.

Derivatives Data Tells a Compelling Story

According to CoinGlass, in the last 24 hours, ETH futures OI jumped 6.14% to $41.66 billion, building on a steady upward trend that kicked off in early May when the metric stood at just over $21 billion. Previous highs were recorded at $37.66 billion on June 10 and $35.87 billion on June 3.

The latest uptick isn’t isolated either. In the last 24 hours, ETH derivatives volume skyrocketed almost 33% to $109.28 billion, surpassing BTC’s $77.22 billion in the same period.

Binance dominated the landscape, commanding $7.59 billion in ETH OI and $27.88 billion in volume. It was followed by Gate, boasting $5.71 billion worth of OI, with Bitget and Bybit holding $4.33 billion and $3.90 billion, respectively.

Notably, the long/short account ratio on Binance stood at 1.20, indicating bullish sentiment, while top traders were aggressively long with a position ratio exceeding 3.0.

However, the heightened leverage also introduced volatility. Over the past day, $124.5 million in ETH positions were liquidated, $77.6 million in shorts, and $46.9 million in longs, highlighting the risk that accompanies this aggressive trading activity.

Price Action Mirrors the Leveraged Bets

The development comes against a backdrop of strong price appreciation for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. As reported previously by CryptoPotato, the asset briefly peaked at $2,822 on June 11, marking a 15-week high. It also signified a crucial breakout above the stubborn $2,700 resistance level that had capped gains for weeks, setting the stage for a run toward the psychological $3,500 barrier.

At the time of this writing, ETH was trading at around $2,766, a 4.7% rise across the last seven days, just edging out the broader crypto market’s 4.5% jump in the same time frame.

The altcoin’s momentum is backed by more than just hype. Market watchers have cited key catalysts such as Vitalik Buterin’s recently unveiled scaling roadmap and regulatory clarity on staking and decentralized finance (DeFi) from the SEC for being behind ETH’s improved performance.

[PRESS RELEASE – Texas, United States, June 11th, 2025]

Bitcoin holders can now trade, borrow, and execute complex DeFi strategies for just $0.01 per transaction, following Threshold Network’s launch of tBTC on Starknet. This trust-minimized protocol transforms Bitcoin into functional DeFi capital while preserving full user custody.

tBTC is now available for direct minting on Starknet via the Threshold UI, allowing users to seamlessly bring native BTC onchain without custodians or intermediaries.

With Bitcoin’s average transaction fee at $1.49 (7-day moving average, June 2025), it’s no match for Starknet’s ultra-low costs, where the same Bitcoin, via tBTC, can be traded, lent, or deployed in complex DeFi strategies for just $0.01 per transaction.

“BTC on Bitcoin Mainnet is like gold bars in a vault: valuable but unusable,” said MacLane Wilkison, Co-Founder of Threshold Labs. “At just $0.01 per transaction on Starknet, Bitcoin becomes more than a store of value — it can now be used for small to large-scale trades, executed hundreds of times a day, and as a source of capital to lend or even borrow against. This is Bitcoin as it was meant to be used.”

The Numbers: Why Bitcoin DeFi Struggles

Current Bitcoin mainnet reality (June 2025 data):

• Average transaction fee: $1.49 (7-day moving average)
• Recent peak during congestion: $91.89 (April 2024)
• Confirmation time: 10-60 minutes

Result: Complex DeFi operations become uneconomical: even at $1.49, a $100 trade costs 1.5% in fees.

tBTC on Starknet changes the economics:

• Transaction fees: $0.01
• Confirmation: Instant
• Throughput: 857 TPS (achieved in testing)

Result: Bitcoin becomes a working capital, operating at minimal cost.

What’s Coming Next for tBTC x Starknet

With the launch of tBTC on Starknet, Threshold Network is building the foundation for a Bitcoin-Ethereum economy within a scalable, zero-knowledge environment. tBTC is integrating with Starknet’s most prominent protocols to bring trust-minimized Bitcoin liquidity to trading, borrowing, and beyond.

• Live on Launch: DEX Trading on Ekubo – Native Starknet DEXs enable deep, efficient trading of tBTC against select pairs. Users can deploy capital with minimal slippage and explore high-frequency strategies at a much lower cost.
• Coming Soon: tBTC Lending on Vesu – Soon, users can borrow against their tBTC positions without relinquishing custody, via Vesu. This integration mirrors the success of tBTC on Ethereum, where over 25% of the supply is locked in Aave.

What Can Users Do with tBTC on Starknet

• Execute on Select Trading and Borrowing Strategies
• Provide liquidity at minimal rebalancing costs
• Use Bitcoin as collateral without selling
• Manage positions freely on DEXs
• Trade tBTC or explore staking pairs

Enabling New Application Use Cases:

• Streaming Payments: Enables Bitcoin-backed payments to be sent on a per-second basis.
• Automated Strategies: Allows BTC to function within smart contract systems while minimizing gas overheads that could reduce returns.
• Bitcoin-Powered Gaming: Facilitates microtransactions through low-cost, instant Bitcoin-backed transfers, making them viable in gaming environments.

What’s Coming Next

1. Perpetuals & CDPs: Upcoming integrations with perp DEXs and collateralized debt protocols will expand risk-managed leverage options and allow BTC to power more complex DeFi tools.
2. Yield Vaults: Future integrations with automated vaults will simplify liquidity management for users and unlock more opportunities with BTC on DeFi.
3. Oracles & Liquidity Infrastructure: Collaborations with major liquidity providers and oracle networks will ensure accurate price feeds and optimal capital deployment.

“This fundamentally changes Bitcoin’s role in DeFi,” said Damian Chen, Head of Growth at the Starknet Foundation. “We’re seeing developers revisit ideas killed by high fees. Bitcoin at scale is finally possible on Starknet.”

Security Without Compromise

Unlike other wrapped Bitcoins that require corporate custody, tBTC uses threshold cryptography. Multiple independent nodes secure Bitcoin deposits, ensuring that no single entity controls funds. No KYC is required, and users maintain Bitcoin sovereignty while accessing DeFi.

Starknet’s zero-knowledge proofs provide the scaling. STARK cryptography compresses thousands of transactions into one proof, achieving 857 TPS in testing while maintaining Ethereum’s security guarantees.

How to Access tBTC on Starknet

Access tBTC on Starknet via 2 ways:

With $547 million in TVL, 193 active protocols, and over 11,000 daily users, Starknet has rapidly emerged as a hub for scalable, composable DeFi.

Starknet users can now directly mint tBTC — a fully backed, 1:1 representation of native Bitcoin — through the Threshold UI, providing them with seamless access to Bitcoin’s value without intermediaries and with full self-custody.

Additionally, users can bridge existing tBTC from Ethereum L1 to Starknet via the official StarkGate bridge, offering even more flexibility for Bitcoin holders to participate in Starknet DeFi.

Market Context

Despite a $2.1 trillion market cap, Bitcoin’s presence in DeFi remains minimal, with just $6.3 billion (under 0.3%) locked in decentralized protocols, according to DefiLlama data from June 2025. As transaction costs decline and access barriers are removed, the Bitcoin DeFi market has the potential to grow 10–15x, unlocking new utility beyond passive holding and into active, composable participation across DeFi.

tBTC has operated since 2020 as the leading trust-minimized Bitcoin protocol. Combined with Starknet’s proven 857 TPS capacity, Bitcoin DeFi can finally scale.

About Threshold Network

Threshold Network powers tBTC, the leading decentralized, 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset for DeFi. Secured by a 51-of-100 threshold signer model, tBTC enables BTC to move across multiple chains—including Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, and BOB—without requiring custodians or compromising security. With $450M+ in TVL and $3.6B in bridge volume since 2020, Threshold delivers the most robust trust-minimized Bitcoin infrastructure in DeFi.

About Starknet

Starknet is a permissionless, decentralized zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup that offers high scalability, low fees, and fast finality. Powered by STARK proofs and developed by StarkWare, Starknet is designed for long-term composability, security, and developer flexibility.

Disclaimer: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed. Nothing in this press release should be considered investment advice.