SEC’s Gensler Hints at Summer 2024 Approval for Spot Ether ETF S-1

LUCKNOW (CoinChapter.com) — The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler suggested that the final approvals for listing and trading shares of spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could come as early as this summer. The announcement came during a June 13 hearing of the Senate Banking Committee, where Gensler discussed U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2025 budget requests for the SEC.

Gensler Feels The Political Heat Over Ether ETFs

On May 23, the SEC approved 19b-4 filings from eight companies seeking to launch spot Ether ETFs. However, these applications still require S-1 registration statement approvals before the ETFs can begin trading on U.S. exchanges. During the Senate hearing, Gensler stated that he expects the commission to approve these S-1 “sometime over the course of this summer.”

The SEC chair’s comments come amidst growing pressure from lawmakers. Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty questioned Gensler on why the commission hadn’t “fully approved Ether ETFs.” Hagerty claimed that the SEC chair was not prioritizing a “constructive set of rules of the road for the crypto industry.”

Interestingly, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Rostin Behmam stated that Ether was a commodity in response to Senator Hagerty’s query, but Gensler pivoted the discussion to Ether ETFs.

The Ethereum exchange-traded product of filings that were in front of us from stock exchanges — I think there were eight or nine of them — were all jointly approved,” Gensler said. “Individual issuers still are working through the registration process that’s working smoothly, and I would envision sometime over the course of this summer…

said Gensler

This announcement comes following the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust became among the first to begin trading on the Nasdaq. The SEC has also signed off on 19b-4 filings for spot Ether ETFs from several prominent asset managers, including Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, Ark, Invesco Galaxy, and Franklin Templeton.

Will This Summer Really Bring Good News?

Amid the crypto industry eagerly awaiting the final approvals for spot Ether ETFs, most predictions from analysts and industry experts point towards mid to late summer 2024.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has suggested that launching Ether ETFs on U.S. exchanges in June is possible, but he predicts final SEC approvals by July 4.

Fellow ETF analyst James Seyffart also said the same, stating that while his July prediction was a guess, he was confident that ETH ETFs would launch sometime this summer.

Nate Geraci, host of the popular ETF Prime podcast, predicts that the S-1 approvals could happen within 2-3 months from now. He noted that the SEC has already done significant groundwork with the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs and Ethereum futures ETFs, which might streamline the process for spot Ether ETFs.

Despite the optimistic predictions, some experts express concerns about liquidity and the regulatory complexities surrounding Ethereum’s classification. Matteo Greco, a representative from Fineqia International, a digital asset investment firm, has cautioned that these issues could potentially delay the final approvals.

SEC Chair Gensler himself hinted that the approval of S-1 registration statements might “take some time,” suggesting potential delays in the process.