Key takeaways:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the listing of eight Ethereum-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on May 23. The ETFs are expected to start trading in July. After the launch, investors will gain exposure to Ethereum without having to hold the cryptocurrency directly.
Bitcoin ETFs, which were greenlighted by the SEC in January, have accumulated $54 billion in assets under management as of July 2. Ethereum ETFs are expected to underperform compared to Bitcoin ETFs, but the two offer essentially different value propositions to investors.
The SEC has approved eight companies to launch Ethereum ETFs. These include Grayscale Ethereum Trust and Bitwise Ethereum ETF, which will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust will be listed on Nasdaq, while the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) will list VanEck Ethereum Trust, ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF, Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF, Fidelity Ethereum Fund, and Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Ethereum ETF.
As required by the SEC, the funds have started to file their S-1 forms, another layer of the approval process where the regulator examines the specific details of each ETF. The process can take several weeks, but a recent Bloomberg report suggests that it could be expedited so that the ETFs start trading by mid-July.
Bitwise just filed amended S-1 for spot Eth.. which wasn't 'due' until July 8th. Prob just wanted to get it off their plate and from what I hear the last round of comments were 'literally nothing' = took zero time to update. Also, no fee yet. Prob get those next week-ish. pic.twitter.com/1r8xgKcdyC
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) July 3, 2024
More people are expected to buy and sell Ethereum