Spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will likely get their final approvals this summer, according to the Chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler.
While speaking at a US Senate hearing, Gensler said he anticipates the commission to greenlight S-1 registration statements “sometimes over the course of this summer.”
Eight applications for spot ETH ETFs received approval in May. However, only 19b-4 forms were approved. Applicants are awaiting the S-1 approvals for the products to start trading on US exchanges.
Gensler Sees Ether ETF Approvals This Summer
Gensler appeared before the US Senate Banking Committee on June 13 to discuss the budget requests for the SEC. During the hearing, Senator for Tennessee Bill Hagerty questioned Gensler over the delay in the S-1 approvals.
Hagerty accused the SEC Chair of failing to formulate a “constructive set of rules of the road for the crypto industry.”
Gensler did not clarify Ether’s status as a security or commodity. However, the Chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behmam, referred to ETH as a commodity.
While discussing the Ethereum ETF, Gensler noted that the approved 19b-4 forms were from stock exchanges. Therefore, the SEC was waiting for the issuers of these products to finish the registration.
SEC said,
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. Individual issuers still are working through the registration process that’s working smoothly, and I would envision sometime over the course of this summer.
Spot Ether ETFs Will launch in Weeks
Following the first approvals for eight spot Ether ETFs, analysts had predicted that the products would start trading in June. However, in an interview earlier this month, Gensler said the final approvals could “take some time.”
The recent statements have led analysts to believe that the first altcoin ETF in the US will debut soon.
While reacting to the recent comments by the SEC Chair, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seryffary noted that the launch of a spot ETH ETFs this summer is “sort of a given.” However, he admitted that the SEC was not sharing much information on the pending approvals.
While speaking in another interview, Seyffart noted that the approval of another altcoin ETF in the US was not likely. He said that Solana and other altcoins had almost “no shot of approval” in the next year.
Among the firms awaiting the approval of their Ether ETF filings is BlackRock. BlackRock already offers spot Bitcoin ETFs and is awaiting the S-1 approval for its iShares Ethereum Trust. Fidelity, Bitwise, Grayscale, Invesco Galaxy, 21Shares, Invest, VanEck, and Franklin Templeton are the other firms awaiting approval.
