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Financial giant BlackRock late Wednesday amended its filing with the SEC for its proposed spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF). iShares Ethereum Trust’s May 29 update is the first visible sign toward the market availability of an ETH-backed ETF following last week’s bombshell approval of a new financial instrument.
“This is almost certainly the participation we were looking for,” Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said on Twitter. “The issuer and SEC are working to launch a spot Ethereum ETF.”
His colleague Eric Balchunas agreed that this was a “good sign” and pointed out that other applicants would follow suit. He said an Ethereum ETF would likely be launched next month if the SEC immediately provides “one more detailed reconciliation opinion.”
“At the end of June, we are launching a legal possibility while keeping the over/under date to July 4th,” Balchunas tweeted.
That’s a good sign. The rest are likely to be released soon. Then try revising the employee’s comment one more time. Even if I keep my o/u date to July 4th, legal possibilities start at the end of June https://t.co/WymshkTvat
BlackRock’s proposed fund would trade under the ticker symbol ETHA, and the company said it would not allocate any of its Ethereum to staking. This means that the ETF’s potential return is “(Ethereum) directly.”
BlackRock first filed a Form S-1 with the SEC for its product in November, following similar offerings from ARK Invest, Fidelity and VanEck. Cryptocurrency management company Grayscale is also looking to convert the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) into a spot Ethereum ETF. A similar conversion is credited with paving the way for a spot Bitcoin ETF approved in January, which led to a surge in the price of BTC and bullish sentiment across the cryptocurrency sector.
With a spot Bitcoin ETF currently holding more than a million Bitcoin, hopes are high that a fund based on the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization will similarly push the market higher.
Although attention immediately turned to Ethereum following the approval of the Bitcoin ETF, the outlook for ETH-based equivalents appeared to dim over the next few months. But the mood brightened significantly two weeks ago when a separate report emerged that the SEC was preparing to eventually grant approval.
The SEC’s approval is seen by many as part of a broader shift in U.S. cryptocurrency policy. This is a pivotal development, in part because the digital asset industry has become a more prominent factor in election year politics.
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