The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened a three-week comment period for three Ethereum spot ETF applications. ETFs associated with Grayscale Investments, Fidelity and Bitwise are now open for public discussion, according to notices published by the institution.
The SEC's move comes amid uncertainty in the industry. Despite the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs earlier this year, analysts had expressed skepticism about the possibility of the SEC granting similar approvals for products tracking Ethereum (ETH).
The SEC had previously opposed Bitcoin filings but was forced to reverse its stance following a court dispute with Grayscale. However, SEC officials explained that the approval of Bitcoin ETFs does not need to include other tokens.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in January that the approval of Bitcoin ETFs should not be interpreted as an indication of the commission's views on the status of other cryptocurrencies under federal securities laws. The launch of Bitcoin ETFs has significantly increased investments in the token, leading to speculation that a similar surge could occur for ETH if the SEC issues similar approvals.
The deadline for the SEC to make a final decision on some ETH ETF applications is May 23.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart reminded that the SEC requesting public comment on recent 19b-4 filings is standard procedure for all ETF filings, whether approved or rejected. He emphasized that this process does not necessarily indicate a bullish outlook for Ethereum ETFs.
*This is not investment advice.