According to John Lo, the founder of Recharge Capital, the approval of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for Ether is less certain compared to the previous approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Lo mentioned that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will likely subject upcoming crypto-based ETFs, especially Ether ETFs, 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 to decide on the applications for different ETFs. VanEck’s application must be decided by May 23, ARK 21Shares’ by May 24, Hashdex’s by May 30, Grayscale’s by June 18, and Invesco’s by July 5. Fidelity and BlackRock’s applications have deadlines of August 3 and August 7, respectively.
However, even if the SEC denies the Ether ETF applications, Lo believes that Ethereum will continue to thrive due to its rapid innovation and recent network upgrades. He suggests that the network’s advancements will allow it to survive without relying on an Ether ETF.
Lo also highlights the challenges faced by decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. He mentions that DeFi has been criticized for its lack of user-friendly experience, which hinders institutional participation. Additionally, the high cost of acquiring users is another obstacle for the emerging DeFi industry, limiting its growth.
Despite these challenges, Ethereum remains a hub for DeFi activity. The total value locked (TVL) on the Ethereum network has increased by 80.3% over the past year, reaching $51 billion as of March 18, according to DefiLlama. Furthermore, the number of unique wallet addresses has grown by 21.6% to 115,934 over the past year, according to Etherscan data.
In related news, an unnamed presale address has managed to accumulate $33 million worth of SOL tokens within just one hour.