Investing.com
Published on September 06, 2023 at 10:42 p.m
The race to launch the first spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States has officially started, and ARK Invest and VanEck have submitted their applications. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) filed two 19b-4 filings on Wednesday, September 6, requesting that investment products ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF and VanEck Ethereum ETF be listed on the CBOE’s BZX Exchange.
ARK Invest’s S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) details that the ARK21Shares Ethereum ETF would track the performance of Ether by holding ETH to support the value of its shares. Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Custody is set to act as the trust’s custodian and serve other major fund providers such as Grayscale and BlackRock (NYSE:BLK). The company also proposed entering into a monitoring agreement with Coinbase, similar to its bitcoin spot ETF application.
VanEck’s S-1 filing dates from July 2021, but details of their proposed ETF are not detailed in the context provided.
James Seyffart, ETF analyst at Bloomberg, estimates that the deadline for SEC approval of Ark and VanEck’s filings will be May 23, 2024. He also expects more spot filings for Ethereum ETFs to be filed in the coming days.
The SEC has yet to approve ether ETFs, with potential applicants hesitant due to greater price volatility and regulatory uncertainty compared to bitcoin. However, recent developments have inspired fund managers to flood the SEC with both bitcoin spot ETF and ether futures ETF applications. This surge in applications was reportedly prompted by the June SEC approval of a leveraged bitcoin futures ETF, which drew heavy criticism from the crypto industry.
The SEC has shown a strong preference for futures ETFs over spot ETFs due to investor protection concerns. Its chairman, Gary Gensler, argues that regulated futures markets offer investor protection that spot markets cannot.
The approval of these ether ETFs could depend largely on how the SEC reacts to Grayscale’s spot bitcoin ETF offering after losing to the company in court. Grayscale stressed in a recent letter that the agency no longer had any reason to favor futures bitcoin ETFs over spot ETFs and that it should approve such a product for the benefit of investors.
This article was created with the help of AI and reviewed by an editor. More information can be found in our terms and conditions.
Get the app
Join the millions of people who keep track of the global financial markets with Investing.com.
Download now
Written by: Investing.com
Comments are closed.