If you blinked you may have missed it: Solana’s SOL futures started trading on Monday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the go-to marketplace for U.S. institutions, and unlike previous, historic CME debuts for bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), it received little fanfare.

The product booked $12.3 million in notional daily volume on day one and closed with $7.8 million in open interest, well falling short of similar debuts of BTC and ETH products, according to K33 Research data. For context, BTC futures launched in December 2017 with $102.7 million first-day volume and $20.9 million in open interest, while ETH futures debuted in February 2021 with $31 million in volume and $20 million in open interest, per K33.

Already under pressure by the implosion of speculative memecoin activity, bearish crypto action and even a botched commercial, SOL tumbled roughly 10% from its weekend high, underperforming bitcoin’s (BTC) and ether’s (ETH) 4.5% and 3.8% declines, respectively.

While SOL’s debut may seem lackluster in absolute terms, it is more in balance with BTC’s and ETH’s first-day figures when adjusted to market value, K33 analysts Vetle Lunde and David Zimmerman noted. Solana’s market capitalization stood at around $65 billion on Monday, a fraction of ETH’s $200 billion and BTC’s $318 billion at CME launch.

Solana’s CME launch also had unfavorable timing, as market conditions play a crucial role in futures activity, K33 added.

Bitcoin’s CME futures arrived at the peak of the 2017 bull market as speculative fervor was pushing to the extremes, and ETH’s debut coincided with the early stages of the 2021 altcoin rally and Tesla’s BTC purchase announcement, fueling institutional participation. In contrast, SOL futures started trading as crypto markets turned bearish, without any hype or major catalyst driving immediate demand for the product, according to the K33.»It would appear that institutional demand for altcoins may be shallow, although we note that SOL’s launch has come in a comparatively risk-off environment,» K33 analysts said.

Read more: Multicoin’s Samani Explains Why SOL ETF Could Trounce ETH’s

Derivatives trader Josh Lim, founder of Arbelos Markets that was recently acquired by prime broker FalconX, said that the CME product opens up new ways for institutions to manage their exposure to Solana, regardless of the first-day demand. FalconX executed the first SOL futures block trade on CME on Monday with financial services firm StoneX.

«There’s enthusiasm for this new CME product launch,» Lim said in a Telegram message. Liquid funds will be able to manage around their SOL holdings, including those that bought locked tokens in the FTX liquidation process, he said. Additionally, exchange-traded fund issuers with plans to introduce SOL products could start with CME futures-based ETFs.

«People are missing the big picture on the new CME products,» Lim said. «It’s going to change the access that hedge funds have into altcoins.»

Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood, one of the earliest traditional financial investors in crypto, hopes to bring some of her company’s funds on-chain once the regulatory landscape allows companies in the U.S. to do so.

“We think tokenization is going to be huge,” Wood said at the Digital Asset Summit in New York on Tuesday. “We’d love to be able to tokenize our Venture Fund (ARKVX) or our [Digital Asset] Revolution Fund.”

“I think the regulations are starting to open up in a way that will allow us to do that. So we’d like to seize the moment,” she added.

U.S. regulators have yet to provide a clear framework and rules for registering security tokens, making it difficult for entities like Ark to launch products in the booming space that some believe could become a multi-trillion-dollar market by the end of 2030.

Executives of Coinbase, a big holding of Ark, had previously mentioned a similar outlook, although it was vague as companies are trying to make their mark in the tokenization industry.

At the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference earlier this month, Coinbase Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas said that the crypto exchange is in talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue a security token, a move that previously failed when Coinbase attempted to go public with such a product in 2020.

Jesse Pollack, the founder of Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 network built by Coinbase, later said in a post on X that there were no “concrete plans” to tokenize Coinbase’s stock.

“We are in an exploratory phase and working to understand what needs to be unlocked from a regulatory perspective to bring assets like $COIN to @base in a safe, compliant, future looking way,” he wrote.

EOS Network, known for its scalable blockchain infrastructure, is rebranding to Vaulta as it pivots toward Web3 banking. The transition comes with a token swap that is provisionally scheduled for the end of May.

It also comes with the launch of the Vaulta Banking Advisory Council, a group of financial and blockchain industry experts focused on bridging the gap between traditional banking and decentralized systems. Members include executives from Systemic Trust, Tetra, and ATB Financial, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk.

«Vaulta’s strategic realignment towards Web3 banking is a significant development for the industry,» said Alexander Nelson, senior director of digital finance at ATB Financial. «This move not only opens the door for traditional funds to enter decentralized finance through Bitcoin but also paves the way for greater institutional acceptance.»

Vaulta plans to maintain its technical infrastructure from the EOS Network, including its smart contract architecture, decentralized database, and inter-blockchain connectivity. The platform will integrate with exSat, a Bitcoin-focused digital banking solution, as part of its Web3 banking initiative.

The project, per the release, is set to leverage various partnerships to expand its Web3 banking ecosystem, including with Ceffu, Spirit Blockchain, and Blockchain Insurance. The firm is expected to announce further strategic partnerships in the coming months.

“This transformation represents more than just a name change; it’s a decisive step forward in our mission to deliver open, accessible financial access for everyone. Vaulta is the product of years of planning, strategic development, and thoughtful design, culminating in a holistic Web3 banking approach,” said Yves La Rose, founder and CEO of Vaulta Foundation.

The team described Vaulta’s approach to Web3 banking as two-pronged, offering blockchain-based services tailored for banks and neobanks, and offering a broader financial ecosystem featuring exSat’s Bitcoin banking solutions, blockchain insurance, tokenized real-world assets, and more.

Its network has maintained uninterrupted operation for nearly seven years, emphasizing stability as a key factor in its approach, he added. Advancements in the network’s speed, security and interoperability mean the network is “now positioned for mainstream adoption.”

The rebrand comes as regulatory frameworks for digital assets, including the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), become more defined. La Rose said these developments make it the “right moment” to align Vaulta’s brand with its focus on Web3 banking.