Wall Street firms and major financial institutions are the primary drivers behind the push for the approval of spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), rather than individuals within the crypto community, according to Bill Qian, chairman of Cypher Capital and former global head of fundraising at Binance Labs.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Qian stated, “Now it’s not crypto natives pushing the approval of ETFs, but Wall Street firms trying their best to make it happen.”
Several companies are competing for the approval of a spot Ether ETF, including BlackRock, Grayscale, Fidelity, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, Hashdex, and Franklin Templeton.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decision on VanEck’s ETF application until May 23. Additionally, it has delayed its decision on the Hashdex and ARK 21Shares spot Ether ETFs, with a final decision expected in late May.
While the approval of an Ether ETF would be significant for individuals within the crypto community, Qian believes that large issuers have a greater vested interest due to the fees generated by ETFs. Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF offers the highest fee at 1.5%, followed by BlackRock and Fidelity at 0.25%, and 21Shares at 0.21%.
Prior to the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, several applicants revised their S-1 filings multiple times in an effort to lower their ETF fees, as they competed to offer the lowest management fees to clients. Among the 10 ETF issuers, Bitwise offered the lowest fees, providing ETFs with zero fees for the first six months and a 0.20% fee thereafter.
Qian believes that the approval of a spot Ether ETF is “highly likely” this year due to the demand from BlackRock, which is the world’s largest asset manager with trillions of dollars in capital.
According to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, the current Ether ETF approvals are expected to be declined in late May.