Spot Ethereum ETF Approval Process

The SEC approved 19b-4 filings from VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy and Bitwise. These approvals were given on Thursday, May 23, 2024. The approval process was announced late at night.

This decision was quite unexpected given the SEC's inaction in engaging with issuers. This raised questions about approving the proposal in the first place. However, Hashdex, whose application was due on May 30, was not on the list of approved companies.

These ETFs are planned to be hosted on three national exchanges: CBOE, NYSE ARCA and NASDAQ. This will expand the availability of Ethereum to a wider pool of investors.

Despite approval of 19b-4 forms, trading cannot begin until issuers receive approval for S-1 registration statements. If the process is to be fast-forwarded, it could take several weeks to complete, according to Bloomberg's James Seyffart. However, he stated that there were cases where such approvals took more than three months.

He said political pressure could play a role in the approval of these Ethereum ETFs, as many people do not expect them to be approved. Earlier in the day, a group of House lawmakers (including Majority Whip Tom Emmer and NJ Democrat Josh Gottheimer) had called on the SEC to approve ETFs in a letter.

Lawmakers noted that approval of such a product would be more consistent with the standards imposed by the SEC after it adopted the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year.

Political pressure is considered one possible explanation for the SEC's change of heart. This is a complete turnaround from the agency's position of engaging with issuers, which began earlier this week. Some insiders at the SEC said parts of the agency were caught off guard by the swift approval.

SEC Completes Highly Awaited Ethereum ETF Approval This article was first published on CoinNET #ETH #SEC $SOL