U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler said the regulator expects to approve the S-1 registration form for a spot Ethereum ETF “sometime this summer,” which would be the final step before these funds launch in the United States.
Gensler confirmed that the ETFs will be able to launch by the end of the summer, well before the November presidential election.
The regulator recently approved the relevant 19b-4 filings that the stock exchanges submitted in May. However, the S-1 registration forms for individual issuers are still pending approval.
“Individual issuers are still going through the registration process. It’s progressing very well,” Gensler said at a June 13 Senate hearing.
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Vt., praised Gensler for promising him the applications would be approved by the end of the summer. He added: “We have to capture this market.”
Launch schedule, commodity classification
Gensler's timeline is consistent with what industry experts have predicted in recent weeks.
Bloomberg ETF analysts said approval of the S-1 filing could take "weeks" to "months," just as approval of the 19b-4 filing did. Similarly, others, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., have predicted the ETF would begin trading before the November election.
Currently, the introduction of a spot Ethereum ETF in the U.S. is seen as inevitable, even though the S-1 has not yet been approved. In addition, Ethereum is now considered a commodity by many industry insiders, including legal experts, who believe that the SEC's approval of Ethereum as a single asset ETF product means that it is classified as a commodity.
However, Gensler did not clarify whether Ethereum is classified as a security or a commodity during Senate questioning. He dodged the question without giving a clear answer, claiming that the agency had only “partially” approved an Ethereum ETF.
Meanwhile, Rostin Behnam, chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), told the Senate in a very clear voice that Ethereum is a commodity that should be overseen by his agency.
Concerns about budgetary rules
Gensler also addressed the SEC’s fiscal year 2025 budget request, highlighting the significant growth and changes in the market. "Our limited resources stand in stark contrast to the tremendous growth and change in the market," he said.
He added that the SEC currently regulates approximately 40,000 entities, including more than 13,000 registered funds, 15,400 investment advisers and 3,300 broker-dealers.
Gensler expressed concern about a provision in the House Appropriations Committee’s annual appropriations bill for the agency’s fiscal 2025 that limits funding for enforcement actions related to digital asset transactions, with the exception of fraud or market manipulation.
“This would severely undermine our efforts,” Gensler said. “While not all cryptocurrencies are crypto-securities…those that are are obligated to disclose full, fair, and complete information to the public.”
The SEC chairman stressed the agency’s critical role in maintaining market integrity and protecting investors. He also stressed the importance of adequate funding to keep pace with rapidly evolving markets and technological advances.
“The SEC is the police watching over the investing public and the issuers,” he told the Senate.
