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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially greenlighted Ether spot ETFs to trade on national securities exchanges.
Multiple 19b-4 applications to list the product were approved on Thursday, just days after the SEC began rapidly engaging with issuers on the matter in an unexpected positive turn for the crypto industry.
Ether ETFs Are On The Way
The approval follows the arrival of Bitcoin spot ETFs in January, which launched one day after the SEC’s greenlight following a years-long legal battle against the agency to push them through.
Unlike their Bitcoin counterparts, Ether ETFs won’t launch immediately after today’s approval. Though exchanges have approved multiple issuers’ 19b-4 application forms, their S-1 registration statements for the products still need to go effective before launching – which experts say could take a while.
“There will be days (at a minimum), likely at least weeks, and potentially months between approval and launches here,” tweeted Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart regarding Ether spot ETFs on Tuesday.
Prior to this week, Seyffart and his colleague Eric Balchunas assigned a 25% likelihood of ETFs being greenlighted. They later increased those odds to 75% upon hearing of the SEC’s sudden engagement with issuers on the matter.
ETH has rallied 28% this week on optimism surrounding the approval, given the potential demand that an ETF could launch for the second-largest crypto. Since Bitcoin ETFs went live, such funds have already absorbed $13.3 billion in net inflows, shattering performance records for every ETF in history at launch time.
On Thursday, a Twitter poll from Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan showed that many investors who have already bought the Bitcoin spot ETFs would also buy the Ether ETFs.
SEC, Democrats Change Crypto Stance
The rapid change of stance follows multiple pro-crypto policy votes within US Congress this month, in which many Democrats broke ranks with their party’s leadership in supporting pro-crypto legislation.
Last week, the Senate passed a resolution to repeal Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which will make it more economically feasible for regulated banks to offer crypto custody services.
On Wednesday, the House passed the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) to create long-requested legal clarity for crypto, receiving support from all Republicans alongside 71 Democrats.