The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved applications from Nasdaq, CBOE and NYSE to list ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
They are not yet cleared to trade, though. The SEC gave its blessing to so-called 19b-4 forms tied to the ETFs, but the regulator must approve their S-1 filings before investors can buy them.
The SEC approved 19b-4 forms for the ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, Ark, Invesco Galaxy and Franklin Templeton.
Although the approval of the 19b-4 filings suggests that regulators are willing to allow issuers to bring a spot ether ETF on the market, it doesn’t guarantee that they will ultimately approve the final S-1 forms filed by all issuers.
“There is likely to be a gap before we see S-1 approvals and these ETFs begin trading. My guess is that this will take at least a week, but likely more. If history is any guide it could be much longer and be measured in months. But I personally think the gap will be measured in weeks. Everyone is just guessing right now though.” James Seyffart, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said.
The decision comes less than six months after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved bitcoin ETFs. Those funds have proven to be a big success for the industry.
“The introduction of spot bitcoin ETFs has already demonstrated significant benefits for the digital assets and ETF space, and we believe that spot ether ETFs will similarly provide safeguards for U.S. investors,” said Rob Marrocco, global head of ETP listings at Cboe Global Markets.