US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has not yet given a clear indication as to whether the agency will approve spot Ethereum ETFs.
During a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, Gensler was asked about the approximately ten firms that have filed for the spot Ethereum ETF product. He was also asked whether he considered the summer court decision regarding Grayscale to be “precedent-setting.”
“I don't want to prejudge any application, and as you said, we have 10 applications in front of us,” Gensler said and added:
“So as always, I'm not going to prejudge this. But to your question, we're looking at the facts, the circumstances, and what's in front of us.”
Major firms such as BlackRock and Fidelity filed for spot Ethereum ETFs in November and have since been followed by Franklin Templeton, Ark 21Shares, VanEck and Grayscale. Some experts express optimism that the SEC may approve a spot Ethereum ETF, given that ETH futures ETFs are already traded. They also argue that Grayscale's victory against the SEC in court last year could tip the scales.
The SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs following a Washington court ruling over the summer in which three judges forced the SEC to reconsider Grayscale Investments' application for a spot Bitcoin ETF. However, Gensler stated that the agency's decision to approve spot Bitcoin ETFs should be “limited” to just that.
Gensler, who previously stated that most cryptocurrencies are securities and called for companies to register with the SEC, said that “the entire crypto space is full of problems” during an interview with Yahoo Finance.
“This whole space is rife with abuse and fraud,” Gensler said.
“Look at the series of bankruptcies in 2022 and 2023 where investors cannot get proper disclosures from the middle of the market, from brokers. However, these platforms do not seem very decentralized to the public.”
Gensler criticized brokers for pooling investors' assets without “appropriate disclosures.” “They are doing things we would never allow the New York Stock Exchange to do,” he added.
*This is not investment advice.