The SEC approved Form 19b-4 for Ethereum ETFs, including products from BlackRock, Fidelity and Grayscale. But to begin trading, the products’ S-1 registration statements still need to become effective.
When the Bitcoin ETF was approved, the S-1 was prepared before the 19b-4 was approved. This allowed the S-1 to be effective very quickly and start trading the next day.
What’s different about the Ethereum ETF is that the SEC didn’t start engaging with the issuer until earlier this week. Experts speculate that this last-minute change may have been a political decision. Now, while the issuer was able to quickly file a Form 19b-4 before today’s deadline for the VanEck ETF, there has been little communication about the Form S-1.
According to a source close to the process, there is still a lot of work to be done on the S-1 form. They said it could take several weeks to resolve all the issues, but it ultimately depends on how quickly the SEC responds. As a result, exchanges and issuers have not yet started discussing listing these products.
