Ether (ETH), Ethereum blockchain’s native token has entered a long-term bullish trend following the regulatory greenlight given to spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On May 23, the U.S. SEC finally approved spot Ether ETFs in the United States after accepting the rule changes in the issuance requests from various asset managers. The dramatic development which comes shortly after the SEC speculated that ETH is a security, authorizes the highly-anticipated crypto ETF to be listed and traded in the U.S., marking the second landmark approval from the SEC in 2024.
The Tuesday update showed that the regulatory commission approved 19b-4 filings from eight (8) leading asset managers, including ARK 21Shares, Bitwise, BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, Invesco Galaxy, and VanEck.
The approval has further invalidated Michael Saylor’s earlier prediction on spot Ether ETF and security claims on the Ethereum native token. However, despite the 19b-4 forms endorsement, approved spot Ether ETF issuers need to have their S-1 registration statements go effective before trading can commence.
According to Bloomberg ETF Analyst Jeff Seyffart, the process may take weeks or months to complete depending on their proactiveness. “I think that if they work extremely hard it can be done within a couple of weeks but there are plenty of examples of this process taking 3+ months historically,” Seyffart wrote.
Expected impact on ETH price
A spot Ether ETF is an investment vehicle that tracks the spot price of ETH. It enables market participants to invest in ETH without needing to directly hold the asset.
Given that spot ETFs are only listed on stock exchanges, investors would be able to invest in the second-largest crypto asset by market value via highly regulated and compliant platforms.
Citing the impact of the January approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs on BTC price coupled with the fact that ETH has been officially declared a commodity by the U.S. SEC, several analysts expect to see huge inflows into ETH from institutional investors. This is expected to potentially push the utility token to new all-time highs in the coming months.
According to top crypto asset trading firm QCP Capital, the approval of spot Ether ETFs may boost ETH price by over 60%, pushing it to around $6,000.
Notably, ETH has gained over 20% in the past week, surpassing $3,900 on the spot Ether ETF approval day. Trading at $3,713 at the time of writing, ETH’s price needs to gain about $1,100 to surpass its all-time high of $4,878 reached during the 2021 bull market.
About Author
