Executives at two issuers that are jointly considering launching a SpotEther ETF have differing views on whether such a fund can win approval in the near future.
Ark Investments CEO Cathie Wood said on a podcast this week with Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz that the Ark21Shares Ethereum ETF and other similar products will be approved in May. He said the chances of that happening would “probably go down.”
Industry watchers expect the Securities and Exchange Commission to decide on the Spot Ether proposal on or about May 23. This is the date on which the regulator’s 240-day deadline to decide on the first such application expires.
“One of Bitcoin’s clear signs that something was going to happen with the Spot Bitcoin ETF was the fact that we were in contact with the SEC,” Wood said. “I think the SEC is still biding its time and perhaps studying this issue.”
read more: Will Ether ETF appear in May?This is why many people are bearish
The SEC approved 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs in January, the first of their kind to hit the U.S. market.
Ark Invest has launched one of its BTC funds in partnership with European crypto ETP specialist 21Shares. The ETF currently has about $3 billion in assets under management, making it fourth in the sector behind Grayscale Investments, BlackRock and Fidelity.
Ophelia Snyder, co-founder of 21Shares, pointed to Grayscale’s legal victory against the SEC last year as the main reason the Bitcoin ETF was approved. In an August ruling, the justices ruled that the SEC was “arbitrary and capricious” in allowing a Bitcoin futures ETF but blocking Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) from becoming an ETF. .
The SEC allowed ETFs holding Ether futures contracts to begin trading in October.
Mr. Snyder told Mr. Yanowitz that he was not as bearish as Mr. Wood and others about the possibility of a spot ether ETF being approved soon, given “how fresh most of the documents are.”
“There is no significant difference between these filings for Ethereum and the filings for Bitcoin,” the 21Shares executive said. “They’re the same structure, the same administrators, the same disclosures. Internally they’re very consistent, which means there’s less to look at.”
Still, Wood said he believes the proposal’s language regarding the proposed betting of the fund’s assets is a “dead end” for the SEC.
staking ether is the process of depositing ETH to ensure the security of the Ethereum blockchain, and in doing so, earn revenue from that ETH.
An amended proposal submitted by Ark and 21Shares last month states that the sponsor “may, from time to time, stake a portion of the trust assets through one or more trusted staking providers.”fidelity and grayscale has made similar additions to the Ether ETF application.
read more: Ark21 Shares amends Spot Ether ETF proposal to include staking language
Bitwise filed for a Spot Ether ETF on Thursday, but the proposal did not include details about how the fund might stake its assets.
Gemini Chief Operating Officer Marshall Beard, who manages VanEck’s Spot Bitcoin ETF and has participated in discussions related to the proposed ETH fund, previously told Blockworks: The Spot Ether ETF said it believes its staked assets “will not be version 1.”
Sumit Roy, senior analyst at ETF.com, said staking is a feature that makes Ether look like a security, and “the SEC won’t look at it favorably.”
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is another issuer that has proposed a Spot Ether ETF to the SEC. The company’s CEO, Larry Fink, said in an interview Thursday. interview Fox Business News reported that designating Ether as a security or commodity may not have a significant impact on whether such a fund gets the green light.
When asked directly during the interview if BlackRock could launch a Spot Ether ETF even if ETH were classified as a security, Fink added, “I think so, yeah.”
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