Spot Ether ETF Approvals ‘Will Take Some Time’ – Gary Gensler
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has hinted at a possible delay in final approval for asset managers offering Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
In an interview on CNBC on June 5, Gensler hinted that next steps on the SEC's approval of Spot Ether (ETH) ETFs will “take some time,” prompting the commission to delay or sign S-1 filings. On May 23, the SEC gave the green light to 19b-4 filings from VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy and Bitwise. However, final approvals allowing listing and trading of ETFs on US exchanges could take months.
The SEC chairman added in an interview that the Commission's position on enforcement actions when cryptocurrency companies perform activities that laws do not allow traditional exchanges to do is unlikely to change under Gensler. The financial regulator filed a lawsuit against Ripple, Coinbase, Binance and Kraken. However, the SEC was forced to close one of its state offices after a Utah judge ordered it to pay $1.8 million in “bad faith” lawsuits.
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While Gensler suggested that the SEC may delay the spot ether ETF approval process, the commission eventually got the ball rolling to list the shares. The spot ether ETF's 19b-4 approvals come five months after the SEC approved several spot bitcoin (BTC) ETF applications, marking an industry first. Before the SEC chairman's comments, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas predicted a July 4 launch date for the SpaceEther ETF.
Unlike the spot Bitcoin ETF, the five commissioners did not vote to approve Ether ETFs, which have been greenlit by the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets. Gensler is expected to serve as SEC chairman until 2026. SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw's term officially ended on June 5, but at the time of publication, US President Joe Biden had not yet announced whether he intended to appoint a successor or fire her.
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