Ethereum ETF launch date depends on issuers, not SEC: Gensler
Approval of the U.S. spot ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) depends on how quickly it can respond to comments from the Securities and Exchange Commission, chairman Gary Gensler said.
Gensler's comments increase approval on issuers and indicate the SEC is not dragging out the process as some fear.
On May 23, the SEC approved eight 19b-4 filings to list Ether ETFs on various U.S. exchanges, although they cannot begin trading until they receive approval for the required S-1 registration statement.
“These subscribers are self-motivated to respond to the feedback they receive, but how much they respond is up to them,” Gensler said in a June 6 report from Reuters.
The comments shed new light on Gensler's comments on CNBC a day earlier — where he said the next steps would “take some time.” Some believed this meant the commission would take their time signing off on the S-1 forms.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on the @CNBC Squawk Box this morning. Note the pivot from “all tokens are securities” to “tokens lack proper definition”.
Cramer asked about other token EFAs, Gensler as usual approached crypto losses as why crypto is bad, SEC good answer. pic.twitter.com/FmSZkwuTYW
— Alexander Grieve (@AlexanderGrieve) June 5, 2024
Bloomberg EFF analyst Eric Balchunas previously said the process could take weeks or months, although he cited the first week of July as a starting point.
The Greyscale test has influenced the Ethereum ETF decision
The SEC has yet to explain why it is changing its vote on Ether ETFs just days before the original decision deadline.
However, Gensler told Reuters the move was influenced by a legal challenge to Greyscale's Bitcoin ETF last year.
Grayscale successfully argued in court that because the SEC was accepting Bitcoin (BTC) futures ETFs, there should be no reason to deny the position of Bitcoin ETFs – which became instrumental in their approval.
Speaking to Reuters, Gensler said the Ethereum case is similar and that SEC staff will “look at these [Ether] Records, we've looked at various correlations… The correlations are relatively similar to the correlations in the Bitcoin space.
Alternative theory: Nancy Pelosi-connected SEC commissioner
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seifert — caught in an approved flat-footed while predicting a low for months — shared an alternative theory on X. It suggests that the reversal on the Ether ETF has influenced SEC Commissioner Jamie Lizaraga. Influential Democratic Party member Nancy Pelosi.
“What I've heard from other people is that it might come from Lizaraga, I don't even know, he's been working for so long — he was Nancy Pelosi's right-hand man,” Seifert said on the Beats+Beeps podcast. with Unchained.
Related: Why Ethereum ETF Day One Income Won't Be Like Bitcoin – Fireblocks MD
“And what I'm hearing a lot, even on the ETH stuff, the Dems in the Senate and the House are concerned about how the crypto vote is going and how many people own it.”
Pelosi was one of many House Democrats who supported the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), a “watershed moment” vote for crypto in the US House of Representatives on May 22.
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