TradFi Wall Street firms are pushing for Ether ETF approval, former head of Binance Labs says.

Wall Street companies and large financial institutions, not natives of crypto, have the greatest interest in pushing for the adoption of space ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to Bill Qian, chairman of Cipher Capital and former head of global fundraising at Binance Labs.

“Right now, crypto natives are not pushing for ETF approval, but Wall Street companies are trying their best to do it,” Qian said in an interview with Cointelegraph.

“Ultimately, the key lobbyists will be institutional asset management companies. Since they are in the AUM game, it is better for them to launch ETFs and get ETFs accepted. [assets under management]And to increase AUM, they need to get approval for ETFs.

Companies competing for the SpaceEther ETF include BlackRock, Greyscale, Fidelity, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, Hashdex and Franklin Templeton.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has pushed back its decision on VanEck's ETF application to May 23. It has also extended its decision on the Hashdex and ARK 21Shares Space Ether ETF to March 19. Both ETF applications have a deadline for a decision at the end of May. .

While the approval of the Ether ETF is a welcome sign for crypto natives, big issuers have a big advantage in generating ETF-related fees, Qian explained.

“The Wall Street firms that want this to happen want to generate ETF management fees.”

Greyscale's Bitcoin ETF is offering the highest payout at 1.5%, followed by BlackRock & Fidelity at 0.25% and 21Shares at 0.21%.

Before the spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved, many applicants updated their S-1 filings multiple times to lower ETF fees, in a race to offer clients the lowest management fees.

Of the 10 ETF issuers, Bitwise offers the lowest fees, offering zero fees for the first six months and $1 billion in assets, followed by a 0.20% fee.

According to Qian, the Spot Ether ETF could be approved this year due to interest from BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, with trillions of dollars in capital.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seifert expects the current Ether ETF approvals to be rejected by the end of May, according to a March 19 post.

Related: Ether EFAs May Be Delayed Because Institutions Are Not Ready – Web3 exec