On May 23rd, the U.S. SEC approved eight ETF 19b-4 application forms from BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, ARKInvest, VanEck, Invesco Galaxy, and Franklin Templeton. Since then, speculations have been going wild about when the ETH ETFs will be listed and go live for trading. While Bitcoin ETFs took years to get listed on the NYSE finally, ETF experts believe Ether ETFs will take less time.
‘2-3 Months Max’
While Bitcoin futures ETFs were approved in October 2021, the SEC took over two years to approve their listing on the Nasdaq or NYSE.
Nate Geraci, President of ETF Store, believes that although nobody knows for sure, the SEC has already done the ‘heavy lifting’—aka the basic groundwork for making a decision—while approving Spot Bitcoin ETFs and ETH futures ETFs.
Lipper Alpha Insights states that on January 10, 2024, when BTC ETFs were listed, the SEC also approved a rule change that consecutively allowed exchanges to list ETH ETFs in the future after the 19b-4 forms were approved on May 23rd.
Hence, as per Geraci’s personal opinions, he believes that listing ETH ETFs can come within the ‘next few weeks’ or ‘2-3 months max,’ depending on how long the SEC wants to delay and stretch things.
‘July 4th Maybe?’
In a light spirit, Eric Balchunas, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst, posited that the SEC could decide whether ETH ETFs should be listed before or after July 4th.
This would be in tandem with the belief that the SEC has already crossed most of the regulatory hurdles with the earlier approvals for Bitcoin ETFs, which are much more likely to give American citizens good news to celebrate along with Independence Day.
Expected Lesser Time Than Bitcoin ETFs
Meanwhile, on Monday morning, James Seyffart, another Bloomberg Intelligence expert, offered a clearer answer and perspective during an interview on the Bankless HQ podcast.
Seyffart said, “I don’t think anybody knows exactly when it’s going to get approved.”
He explained that it could take weeks to months before the SEC approves the S-1 forms that trading requires. He cited that Bitcoin ETFs took three months after filing to get approval, adding that Ethereum ETFs might have a similar, if not a faster, journey.
Price of Ethereum Now in the Crypto Rally
The anticipation of Ethereum ETFs has contributed to the bullish sentiment pervading the market. Ethereum has risen to $3,932, up 3.4% over the last 24 hours and 35% over the past fortnight. This rise is partly due to former President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto comments, which have boosted confidence in the digital asset market.
Crypto market-making firm QCP Capital noted, “From today’s price action, it seems that market participants are expressing their bullishness in ETH rather than BTC, especially with the potential institutional demand once the ETH spot ETF starts trading.”
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