The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has made a significant decision, granting approval for the trading of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the country. This follows a series of 19b-4 filings from notable firms such as VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and Bitwise. The SEC’s Trading and Markets Division approved the rule changes necessary for the listing and trading of spot Ether (ETH) ETFs on their respective exchanges. Unlike spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs, which were approved by a committee vote including SEC Chair Gary Gensler, spot Ether ETFs were specifically approved by the SEC’s Trading and Markets Division. There is a notable difference in the approval processes of the two crypto ETFs, as all ten BTC ETFs started trading the day after their approval due to receiving S-1 form clearance. However, spot Ether ETFs may take several weeks or even months to debut on exchanges, as the ETF filers have yet to receive their S-1 SEC registration.
In a separate development, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) in Hong Kong has concluded its investigation into the Worldcoin project. The PCPD found that Worldcoin’s operations in Hong Kong were in violation of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. As a result, Privacy Commissioner Ada Chung Lai-ling issued an enforcement notice to Worldcoin, demanding the immediate cessation of all project operations in Hong Kong that involve the scanning and collection of irises and facial images of the public using iris scanning devices. The PCPD stated that the collection of face images was unnecessary, as the operators of the iris scanning devices were already capable of verifying the humanness of participants in person at the operating locations. Therefore, the scanning or collection of face images was deemed an unnecessary step.
Furthermore, Binance.US has successfully appealed the suspension of its money-services business license in Florida. The Florida First District Court of Appeal ruled that the emergency suspension order issued by the state Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) was legally unjustified. The suspension of Binance.US’s Florida license was a response to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s guilty plea in federal court for violating U.S. Anti-Money Laundering law. The appeals court cited state law, stating that the OFR “may” suspend a money-services business license through fair procedures, provided that the agency provides reasons to justify its decision. Additionally, the agency did not explore less severe alternatives to suspension.
Lastly, the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act has passed the U.S. House of Representatives in a predominantly partisan vote. This bill, which still needs to undergo a vote in the Senate, makes amendments to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 to prohibit Federal Reserve banks from offering certain products or services directly to individuals and from using central bank digital currency (CBDC) for monetary policy. The Republican-backed bill sparked limited attendance during the debate, with Republican supporters expressing concerns about the potential abuse of a CBDC, while Democrats focused on innovation, the competitiveness of the dollar internationally, and criticism of the bill’s alleged poor drafting. Representative Brad Sherman referred to the bill as a “word salad” that favored “crypto bros.”