US SEC Approves Exchange Listings of Spot Ether ETFs

TL;DR

• The US SEC has approved applications from exchanges to list spot Ether ETFs.

• This potentially paves the way for the products to begin trading soon.

SEC Approves Listing of Ether ETFs

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved applications from Nasdaq, CBOE, and NYSE to list spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Thursday. 

Thanks to this latest development, the SEC is now paving the way for these products to begin trading on the exchange later this year. 

According to a Reuters report, the ETF issuers have to get approval from the SEC before the products can launch. However, yesterday’s approval was a major win for those firms and the broader cryptocurrency market.

Some market analysts had expected the SEC to reject the filing. At the moment, nine issuers, including VanEck, ARK Investments/21Shares, and BlackRock have all filed with the SEC to list ETFs tied to Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market.

This latest development comes after the SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in January, opening up the possibility of spot ETFs tied to other major cryptocurrencies. 

While commenting on this latest development, Andrew Jacobson, vice president and head of legal at 21Shares, said this is an exciting moment for the crypto industry at large, adding that it was a significant step towards getting spot Ether ETFs trading. 

The SEC had a deadline of Thursday to decide on VanEck’s filing, with many in the industry expecting the regulator to reject it since it hadn’t engaged with VanEck on the applications. 

However, on Monday, SEC officials asked the exchanges to fine-tune the filings, indicating the regulator’s willingness to approve the applications. 

While commenting on the series of events, Rob Marrocco, global head of ETP listings at Cboe Global Markets, said,

“The introduction of spot bitcoin ETFs has already demonstrated significant benefits for the digital assets and ETF space, and we believe that spot ether ETFs will similarly provide safeguards for U.S. investors." 

A SEC spokesperson announced the approval in an email but added that the agency would not comment further. 

While the ETF issuers are ready to launch, two sources familiar with the process revealed that the corporate finance division of the SEC might likely request changes and updates in the coming days and weeks.

Ether is up by more than 27% in the last seven days as investors become optimistic of the SEC’s approval of spot Ether ETFs.