Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has hinted at a potential delay in approving spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offered by asset managers on exchanges.
During an interview on CNBC on June 5, Gensler mentioned that the SEC’s approval process for spot Ether (ETH) ETFs is expected to “take some time,” indicating a possible delay or slow progress in approving S-1 registration statements. Despite the SEC giving the green light to 19b-4 filings from various companies including VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and Bitwise on May 23, final approvals for listing and trading ETFs on U.S. exchanges could be months away.
Gensler also highlighted that cryptocurrency firms were engaging in activities that traditional exchanges were not permitted to do under the law, suggesting that the SEC’s stance on enforcement actions would likely remain unchanged during his tenure. The SEC has initiated legal actions against Ripple, Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken. Furthermore, a regional SEC office was shut down following a Utah judge’s ruling ordering the SEC to pay $1.8 million due to “bad faith conduct” in court.
Despite the potential delay in spot Ether ETF approvals, the SEC has initiated steps towards eventually listing shares on exchanges. The approval of spot Ether ETF 19b-4 applications came after the SEC’s approval of several spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF applications, a first in the industry. Prior to Gensler’s comments, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas had forecasted a potential launch date of July 4 for spot Ether ETFs.
Unlike spot Bitcoin ETFs, spot Ether ETFs were not subject to a vote by the five commissioners but were instead approved by the SEC’s Trading and Markets Division. Gensler is expected to remain as SEC chair until 2026. Although SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw’s term officially ended on June 5, as of the time of publication, President Joe Biden had not announced whether he planned to nominate a replacement or retain her in the role.
In other news, expectations are high for the arrival of Ether ETFs in June, while CZ has departed Binance France. These and other stories can be found in the latest edition of Hodler’s Digest covering May 26 to June 1.