On January 10, after years of refusal, the first Bitcoin Spot ETF has been approved by the SEC. After this first victory, many Internet users considered an upcoming approval for an Ethereum Spot ETF. An opinion which is far from unanimous.
Traders Consider Ethereum Spot ETF
The day after the approval of the Bitcoin Spot ETF, a renewal of enthusiasm was felt on Ethereum.
Thus, between January 8 and 12, the ETH price East went from $2,200 to almost $2,700. Since then, the price has fallen slightly again, with ETH trading around $2,500.
Quickly, many observers assumed that traders were massively positioning for a potential Ethereum Spot ETF. In other words, these traders buy the rumor with a view to sell the news if the Spot ETF were to be authorized.
Indeed, the financial giants have already filed applications concerning the creation of such an ETF. Thus, we find requests from BlackRock, Grayscale, Hashdex, 21Shares, VanEck or Invesco & Galaxy.
For its part, the SEC has until May to deliberate regarding the VanEck, 21Shares and HashDex files. She has until June for the Grayscale file and July for the remaining files.
An unlikely approval?
However, while traders are already preparing for an Ethereum ETF, opinions regarding potential approval vary.
So, Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou told our colleagues at TheBlock that the game is far from over:
“It is far from being acquired. I wouldn’t put more than a 50% chance that the SEC will classify Ethereum as a commodity before May. »
Indeed, Bitcoin is currently the only cryptocurrency to be officially classified as a commodity by the SEC.
On the Ethereum side things are more complex. Indeed, Gary Gensler, the president of the SEC, has stated on several occasions that in his opinion Ethereum was a security and not a commoditydue to its Proof of Stake.
For its part, the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) Does she consider Ethereum to be a commodity?.
As you will have understood, before approval of the Ethereum Spot ETF is announced, American regulators will first have to agree on the nature of the asset. An opinion shared by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou:
“In our view, for the SEC to approve Ethereum spot ETFs in May, it would need to classify Ethereum as a commodity (similar to bitcoin) rather than a security. »
Regardless, the next few months promise to be interesting for the United States. The SEC will have to step up its pace to be able to decide next May.