The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the 19b-4 filings for eight Ethereum spot ETF applications, including BlackRock, this morning. It is worth noting that this approval was made by the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, whereas the Bitcoin spot ETF was approved by a vote from five SEC commissioners.
Summary:
After the approval of the Ethereum spot ETF, will Solana be next? What other potential stocks are there?
Background:
SEC approves eight Ethereum spot ETFs! But there is still one key document missing for listing, will ETH fall instead of rise?
Table of Contents:
Approval by the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets
Bloomberg analyst: Approval is already completed, Gensler’s request for review does not affect it
Does Biden want to win cryptocurrency votes?
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the 19b-4 filings for eight Ethereum spot ETF applications from BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, and others. Although the issuers still need to wait for the clearance of their S-1 (registration statement) filings before officially commencing trading, it seems to be only a matter of time.
With the formal approval of the 19b-4 filings by the SEC, the review process has also attracted attention. According to The Block’s report, in the order approving these Ethereum spot ETFs’ 19b-4 filings, the SEC clarified the responsible division for this decision in the final line of the text. It means that the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, rather than SEC Chairman Gary Gensler or the other four commissioners, made the decision to give the green light to the Ethereum spot ETFs.
In comparison, when the Bitcoin spot ETF was approved earlier this year, it was voted through by a committee composed of five commissioners. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, along with Republican commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda, voted in favor, while Democratic commissioners Jaime Lizárraga and Carolina Crenshaw voted against.
However, the SEC stated earlier that it would not comment on any content other than the approval of the 19b-4 filings.
In response to this, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart stated that it is normal for authorization to make decisions and that the Division of Trading and Markets would not issue approval orders unless a majority of the commissioners agreed. The reason why James Seyffart suspects political reasons is because, according to a report from a reliable source two days ago, the position of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has changed too quickly. An informed source revealed that the Division of Trading and Markets of the SEC is currently responsible for reviewing the 19b-4 filings, while the Division of Finance is responsible for reviewing the S-1 filings.
Related Reports:
Bloomberg analyst: SEC to approve Ethereum spot ETF “19b-4 filings” at 4 a.m. on Friday
Standard Chartered Bank: SEC to approve Ethereum spot ETF this week, BTC will reach a new historical high over the weekend
SEC does not approve Ethereum spot ETF pledging? Grayscale, Fidelity, Ark… cancel ETH pledging plans one after another.