The SEC has until the end of May to complete its review of the Ethereum Spot ETF, following a delay in its original decision date in March. Companies like BlackRock, Fidelity and VanEck, which have launched spot Bitcoin ETFs this year, were eagerly awaiting approval for an ETH product.
However, some applicant companies are not sure that the SEC will green light their ETH applications. “We were also the first to apply for Ethereum in the US, and we and Ark Invest CEO Cathy Wood back in May,” VanEck CEO Jan van Eck told CNBC's Arjun Kharpal at the Paris Blockchain Week cryptocurrency event in France. “We are probably the first in line to be rejected,” he said.
Van Eck added that the regulatory process involves regulators commenting on applications, and this process occurs weeks before Bitcoin ETFs are approved. Currently, “there is complete silence when it comes to Ethereum,” he said.
Despite this, enthusiasm for an ETH ETF has been growing among the crypto community, especially since the SEC approved the first spot Bitcoin ETFs in January. The price of ETH has been climbing over the past week on hopes that the SEC will approve an ETH-backed ETF.
However, the US regulator has signaled that it may not be willing to approve such an investment product. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has previously emphasized that in the agency's view, “the vast majority of crypto assets are investment contracts and are therefore subject to federal securities laws.” This makes things difficult for an ETH ETF.
“We are watching the Ethereum decision very, very closely,” CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti told CNBC today.
“CoinShares was not in the running for a Bitcoin ETF until three months before approval and we managed to get ourselves approved at the last minute.”
*This is not investment advice.