The USA Securities and Change Fee (SEC) is soliciting feedback from the general public on proposed rule modifications permitting the itemizing and buying and selling of shares of three spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, on exchanges.
In separate notices filed on April 2, the SEC said the general public had 21 days to reply upon publication within the Federal Register to identify ETH ETF proposals from asset managers Bitwise, Constancy and Grayscale. The proposed ETF filings from Bitwise and Grayscale for itemizing and buying and selling on NYSE Arca and from Constancy on the Cboe BZX Change got here forward of the fee’s closing choice on the funding automobile, which is anticipated in Might.
“Nothing within the filings sign to me that something has modified,” said Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart in an April 2 X publish. “Silence from the SEC isn’t a superb factor right here.”
He added on April 3:
“Asking for public feedback on a 19b-4 is commonplace process. Each single 19b-4 ETF submitting goes by way of the identical course of (whether or not authorised or denied). It’s not ‘bullish’ in any capability for Ethereum ETFs.”
The SEC authorised a number of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs for the primary time in January following scrutiny from traders and media retailers, with Chair Gary Gensler casting the deciding vote. Nonetheless, many analysts have speculated the odds of the fee making the same choice on Ether ETFs have steadily dropped in 2024.
Associated: Ether ETF is less likely than Bitcoin ETF was — Recharge Capital Managing Partner
A spot Ether ETF utility from VanEck, with a closing deadline set for May 23, will doubtless be the primary submitting the SEC addresses. A number of different asset managers have comparable filings within the pipeline, together with these from Hashdex and ARK 21Shares.
A reported investigation by the SEC into the Ethereum Basis might problem the fee’s choice to approve or deny a spot ETH ETF by classifying the digital asset as a safety. Blockfirm agency Consensys submitted a comment letter to the SEC in March claiming that the regulator’s issues about potential fraud and market manipulation for a spot ETH ETF have been baseless.
