The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sought public opinions on the applications for Ethereum spot ETFs from Fidelity, Grayscale, and Bitwise, raising expectations for the approval of these ETFs in May. However, James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, pointed out that the SEC’s public solicitation of opinions is just a standard procedure in the review process.
Title: SEC Seeks Public Opinions on Ethereum Spot ETF
Subtitle: Bloomberg Analyst: This Is a Standard Process
Subtitle: Consensys Petitions SEC for Approval
Regarding the potential catalyst for Ethereum, the market is closely watching whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve the Ethereum spot ETF before May. Currently, there have been 9 applications for Ethereum spot ETFs, with the most recent one submitted by Bitwise on March 28. VanEck faces the earliest final approval deadline, and the SEC needs to decide whether to approve its application by May 23.
Ethereum
Spot
ETF
Soliciting Public Opinions
The SEC has not actively negotiated with issuers, which has lowered market expectations for the approval of this product in May. However, the situation seems to have changed. According to a notice released on April 2, the SEC is publicly soliciting opinions on rule changes proposed by three asset management companies—Bitwise, Fidelity, and Grayscale—that would allow their Ethereum spot ETFs to be listed and traded on major exchanges.
The public has 21 days to respond after these proposals are published in the Federal Register. Among these proposals, Bitwise and Grayscale are requesting listing and trading on the New York Stock Exchange Arca, while Fidelity has chosen the Cboe BZX exchange.
Some in the community believe that this is a signal of the SEC actively promoting Ethereum spot ETFs, increasing the possibility of approval in May. However, James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, stated on X today:
On March 3, he expressed his view on the SEC’s public solicitation of Fidelity’s Ethereum spot ETF public opinions, stating that he did not see any signs of change in the situation from these documents, and the SEC’s silence is not a good sign.
In fact, the SEC previously sought public opinions on the potential approval of Ethereum ETF applications on March 8, asking whether there are fraud and manipulation risks that the institution needs to consider in the transition of Ethereum to a Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism.
In response, Consensys, the developer of the Metamask wallet, submitted a comment letter on the 29th, stating that these concerns are completely unfounded and that the Ethereum PoS mechanism even surpasses Bitcoin’s PoW in terms of security. Since Bitcoin-based ETFs have already been approved for trading by the SEC, they argue that Ethereum spot ETFs should also be approved.
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