Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said this morning that the SEC has responded to the S-1 filing for Ethereum spot ETF, so they have moved up the launch date for the Ethereum spot ETF to July 2. However, experts speculate that these Ethereum spot ETFs may have limited appeal to institutional investors due to the lack of staking functionality.
Balchunas had previously anticipated a launch date of July 4, and the current adjustment seems minor, indicating that progress is continuing.
On the other hand, the amount of capital inflow that the Ethereum spot ETF can attract after its listing is also a focus of the market. Cryptocurrency derivatives trader Gordon Grant recently commented that holding ETH directly may yield better returns for institutional investors compared to holding the Ethereum spot ETF. Therefore, he believes that institutional investors are more likely to choose on-chain solutions (direct purchase of Ethereum spot) before the staking Ethereum spot ETF is launched.
It has been reported multiple times before that the Ethereum spot ETF applications have been cancelled due to regulatory uncertainty and the SEC’s opposition to staking activities.
Grant is not the first to make this statement. At the end of May, JPMorgan released a report stating that the approved Ethereum spot ETFs lacking staking would reduce their attractiveness as investment products. The report stated that the removal of staking from the ETFs in their application documents makes them less attractive compared to platforms that offer staking rewards.
JPMorgan expects the Ethereum spot ETF to attract up to $3 billion in net inflows for the remaining year. If staking is allowed, this number could increase to as much as $6 billion.
On May 21, Standard Chartered Bank estimated that the Ethereum spot ETF would bring in 2.39 million to 9.15 million ETH within a year of approval, equivalent to approximately $15 billion to $45 billion. At the same time, the institution predicts that the price of Ether may reach $8,000 by the end of the year.
Perhaps incentivized by the upcoming launch of the Ethereum spot ETF, ETH recovered from its early morning dip to $3,362 and rose over 3% within 30 minutes of Balchunas’ announcement. It is currently still on an upward trend, trading at $3,542 at the time of writing, up 0.48% in the past 24 hours, stronger than BTC’s 1.2% decline in the last 24 hours.