- bLackRock leads the approval of Ethereum ETF by updating Form S-1, marking significant progress.
- Hashdex and Vanguard have withdrawn their applications or decided not to launch spot Ether ETFs.
Ethereum’s final approval could happen in June [ETH] Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) as BlackRock becomes the first to update a key registration needed for the launch.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a directive for several institutions interested in launching their Ethereum ETFs to update their 19b-4 and S-1 registrations.
Previously, the SEC approved Rule 19b-4 forms for eight Ether ETF filings, including those from BlackRock (BLK), Fidelity (FNF), Grayscale, ARK Invest, VanEck, Invesco Galaxy and Franklin Templeton.
BlackRock’s bold move
On May 29, BlackRock has finally updated its Form S-1 for its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) with the SEC, almost a week after the regulator approved its 19b-4 filing.
Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, commented on this in his recent post on X:
Source: Eric Balchunas/X
Compounding the battle was James Seyffart, research analyst at Bloomberg, who said:
“This is almost certainly the engagement we were looking for with the S-1s after the 19b-4 approvals. Issuers and SEC working to launch spot Ethereum ETF.”
However, not everyone has taken a step forward in the ETH ETF approval process. Hashdex, another issuer seeking approval for a spot Ether ETF, withdrew its application shortly after the SEC’s approval.
A similar pattern was observed at Vanguard, as highlighted by Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store in his latest tweet. He said,
“No surprise, but Vanguard will NOT offer spot eth ETFs on its brokerage platform…”
What is the price situation?
Amid hopes for approval of the Ether Spot ETF, ETH was trading at $3,769, reflecting a decline of 2.45% at the time of writing.
This was further confirmed by AMBCrypto’s analysis of Santiment investor sentiment data. The results indicated that negative sentiment increased while positive sentiment decreased.
Source: Santiment
The optimistic outlook remains
Despite the prevailing negative sentiment surrounding Ethereum, Jaret Seiberg of TD Cowen’s Washington Research Group recently noted:
“This (ETH ETF approval) comes about six months sooner than we expected… but this decision was also inevitable when the SEC approved crypto futures ETFs.”
He added,
“The next step could be an ETF with a ‘basket of crypto tokens’.”
Therefore, as we await full and final approval of the ETH ETF, it will be interesting to watch the shifts in sentiment within the SEC, especially regarding SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who is known for his anti-crypto -point of view.