During a Senate Banking Committee hearing on June 13, United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, Gary Gensler, hinted to lawmakers that the final approvals needed for listing and trading shares of spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could be granted within three months.
Gensler mentioned that the commission is expected to approve S-1 registration statements for asset managers “sometime over the course of this summer,” while highlighting that on May 23, the SEC had already approved 19b-4 filings from eight companies. However, the applications are still awaiting S-1 approvals before the ETFs can officially kick off trading on U.S. exchanges.
When questioned by Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty about the delay in fully approving Ether ETFs, Gensler refrained from giving a direct response. Instead, he shifted the focus to the Ether ETFs, stating that all the Ethereum exchange-traded product filings from stock exchanges had been jointly approved.
In a recent interview on June 5, Gensler mentioned that final approvals for spot Ether ETFs would take some time post the approval of 19b-4 filings. Bloomberg ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas, suggested that launching the Ether products on U.S. exchanges in June was a possibility, with final SEC approvals expected by July 4.
ETF analyst James Seyffart expressed confidence that Ether ETFs would be launched at some point during the summer, despite uncertainties surrounding the exact date. It is still unclear which company will be the first to have their Ether ETF approved once the S-1 registration statements are finalized.
In a separate development, on January 10, the SEC approved 194-b filings for spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs, which subsequently began trading on January 11. Notably, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust was among the first ETFs to start trading on the Nasdaq, following the SEC’s approval of the asset manager’s 19b-4 filing. Other companies such as Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, Ark, Invesco Galaxy, and Franklin Templeton are also in the running, awaiting final approvals before their ETFs can hit the market.
As the SEC gears up for potential approval of Ether ETFs, the regulatory body faces a challenging battle against the legal firepower of the crypto industry, reminiscent of the epic clash between Godzilla and Kong.