- SEC Approved Spot Ethereum ETFs – A Sign of Increasing Crypto Adoption
- However, the differences in the approval of BTC and ETH spot ETF have raised some questions
Crypto adoption appears to be on the rise after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave Ethereum the green light [ETH] Spot Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
This approval finally came on May 23, about five months after the SEC approved Bitcoin [BTC] spot ETFs on January 11.
However, a closer look at the approval processes of these two cryptocurrencies reveals a clear distinction between the two.
Unlike the spot Bitcoin ETFs, which were approved by a vote of the SEC’s five-member committee including Chairman Gary Gensler, the spot Ether ETFs were approved by the SEC’s Trading and Markets Division.
This raises a crucial question: why didn’t SEC Chairman Gary Gensler vote on the ETH ETF? Does he still view ether as a security rather than a commodity?
Was the approval of ETH ETF a political stunt?
James Seyffart, a research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, addressed this question when he suggested that broader political implications and the SEC’s internal dynamics are the main reasons behind this distinction. On May 24, he tweeted:
Source: James Seyffart/X
Here, Seyffart underlines that the approval was granted through delegated authority and while it is a common practice, ambiguity remains over individual positions as no votes from public commissioners are seen.
He further added that even though the approval is final for now, SEC commissioners like Crenshaw can still request a review.
These differences did not go unnoticed among many in the crypto community, especially in light of ETH’s indifference in the charts immediately following its approval. In fact, one commenter went on to say:
Source: De Denker/X
Bitcoin vs Ethereum
The differences between the two ETFs were evident not only in the approval processes, but also in the subsequent price actions of both cryptos. After the approval of the BTC ETF, the price of Bitcoin rose from just under $46,000 to around $47,500. Meanwhile, ETH saw an 11% increase, surpassing $2,500 for the first time in 20 months.
However, the market reaction was very different after the approval of the ETH ETF. On May 24, Bitcoin, along with several other altcoins including Ethereum, recorded significant drops on the charts.
Gensler maintains its anti-crypto position
As expected, people are still speculating about the reasons behind Gensler’s voting approach during the approval of the BTC ETF, and his absence from the vote for the ETH ETF. However, his history of anti-crypto positions implies that he favors neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum.
The same was evident from a recent one remark he made,
“Crypto is a small part of our overall markets. But it is an outsize part of the scams, fraud and problems in the markets.”