Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton recently provided insight into the SEC's decision-making process regarding Ethereum (ETH) ETFs. He expressed optimism about the future of these products, suggesting their trade was “inevitable”.
Clayton explained that the approval process for Ethereum ETFs involves two steps. The first of these was the listing approval, which has already occurred. The second step, the approval of the product itself, is still pending. Despite this, Clayton believes that such an approval will definitely happen.
“We went through the same process with the Bitcoin product and almost all of the questions were answered,” Clayton said. He further explained that the question that has arisen recently is whether the market is favorable enough for this product to be listed on the exchange.
During his tenure as SEC Chairman from 2017 to 2020, Clayton did not approve crypto ETFs due to concerns about market efficiency. However, he acknowledged that spot markets for both Bitcoin and Ethereum have improved significantly over time.
Clayton also noted the differences in approval processes for Ethereum ETFs and Bitcoin ETFs. Bitcoin Spot ETFs were approved on January 10. The two cryptocurrencies had different classifications; Bitcoin was considered a commodity by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and current SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.
However, the SEC did not definitively state whether underlying transactions on Ethereum were securities transactions.
*This is not investment advice.
