The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given the official green light to Ether spot ETFs to trade on domestic stock exchanges.
Several 19b-4 applications to list the product were approved on Thursday, just days after the SEC began rapidly engaging with issuers on the issue in an unexpected positive turn for the crypto industry.
Ether ETFs are on the way
The approval follows the arrival of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January, which launched a day after the SEC gave the green light after a years-long legal battle against the agency to push them.
Unlike their Bitcoin counterparts, Ether ETFs will not launch immediately after today’s approval. While the exchanges have approved various issuers’ Forms 19b-4 filings, their S-1 registration statements for the products still need to be effective before launch, which experts say could take a while.
“There will be days (at least), probably at least weeks and potentially months between approval and launch here,” he tweeted Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart on Ether spot ETFs on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Seyffart and colleague Eric Balchunas assigned a 25% chance that ETFs would get the green light. They later increased those odds to 75% upon learning of the SEC’s sudden commitment to issuers on the matter.
ETH is up 28% this week on optimism surrounding the approval, given the potential demand an ETF could unleash for the second largest crypto. Since Bitcoin ETFs went live, these funds have already absorbed $13.3 billion in net inflows, breaking performance records for every ETF in history at the time of launch.
On Thursday, a Twitter poll from Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan showed that many investors who have already bought the spot Bitcoin ETFs would also buy the Ether ETFs.
SEC, Democrats change crypto stance
The quick shift in position comes after multiple pro-crypto votes in the US Congress this month, in which many Democrats broke ranks with their party’s leadership to support pro-crypto legislation.
Last week, the Senate passed a resolution to repeal Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which will make it more economically viable for regulated banks to offer crypto custody services.
On Wednesday, the House passed the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) to create long-requested legal clarity for crypto, receiving support from all Republicans along with 71 Democrats.
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