Key Points
Fidelity, a leading asset management company, has updated its S-1 application with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its proposed Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The revised application indicates that the ETF’s underlying Ether tokens will not be staked.
SEC’s U-turn on Ether ETFs
The revised filing comes in the wake of reports that the SEC has reversed its stance on Ether ETFs.
There are speculations that this change of heart may be due to political pressure.
Reports suggest that the SEC has requested ETF issuers to update their 19b-4 filings.
The next significant date for the SEC is May 23, which is the deadline for VanEck’s Ether ETF proposal.
Eric Balchunas, a senior Bloomberg ETF analyst, has raised the probability of approval from 25% to 75%, but this only applies to the 19b-4 form.
James Seyffart, another Bloomberg ETF analyst, has pointed out that Ether ETF issuers will also need to have their S-1 filings approved.
In a May 20 post, Seyffart wrote: “We also need S-1 approvals. It could be weeks to months before we see S-1 approvals and thus a live EtH ETF… That said, if we’re correct and we see these theoretical approvals later this week. It *should* mean that S-1 approvals are a matter of ‘When’ not ‘If’…”
The CEO of Grayscale, Michael Sonnenshein, has recently stepped down from his position.
