US SEC Signals Approval for Ether ETFs, Asks Exchanges to Fine-Tune Applications

According to Reuters: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be poised to approve Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Aas per four sources familiar with the process, the SEC asked exchanges such as Nasdaq, CBOE, and NYSE to refine their applications for spot Ether ETFs. This unprecedented move comes as a surprise to an industry braced for rejection. Ether's price soared by as much as 18% on Monday due to this development and was up another 8.6% at $3,802 late Tuesday morning. The SEC is expected to make a decision on applications to list Ether ETFs by VanEck and ARK Investments/21Shares — submitted via CBOE — by the end of this week. Although there was initially no engagement between the SEC, exchanges, and issuers on the application specifics, the regulator's recent request for updates indicates potential approval. Despite growing optimism, these issuers still need SEC approval on the ETF registration statements before trading can commence. There's no set time frame for this, meaning Ether ETFs may take several months to begin trading. The SEC's move represents a potential triumph for the cryptocurrency industry, given the regulator's historical hesitance amid concerns around market manipulation, especially overseen by crypto skeptic, Gary Gensler. The first Ether ETF applications were filed after the SEC approved ETFs tied to Ether futures in October, but rejection was expected due to discouraging encounters with the regulator. Last year, however, the SEC was compelled to approve Bitcoin ETFs following a successful court challenge by Grayscale Investments. This paved the way for significant buying interest, with two new Bitcoin funds attracting over $1 billion in assets within the first week.