Recharge Capital founder believes chances of Ether ETF are lower compared to Bitcoin ETF

The approval of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for Ether is not as certain as the previous approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, according to John Lo, the founder of Recharge Capital, in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. Lo anticipates that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will subject all upcoming crypto-based ETFs, particularly those for Ether, to increased scrutiny. Several companies including BlackRock, Grayscale, Fidelity, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, Hashdex, and Franklin Templeton are competing for an Ether ETF. The SEC has specific deadlines for each application, with VanEck’s application due by May 23 and ARK 21Shares’ by May 24, among others. If the SEC denies these applications, Lo believes that Ethereum will still thrive due to its rapid innovation and recent upgrades. However, Lo also notes that decentralized finance (DeFi) applications face challenges in attracting institutional participation. He highlights the lack of user-friendly experiences and high costs of user acquisition as obstacles for the emerging DeFi industry. Despite these challenges, Ethereum remains a hub for DeFi activity, with the total value locked on the network increasing by 80.3% to $51 billion as of March 18, and the number of unique wallet addresses growing by 21.6% to 115,934 in the past year.