The race for the first inaugural spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States has begun. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has initiated the countdown to a decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following the recent 19b-4 filings.
On September 6, the CBOE filed two 19b-4 applications with the SEC, requesting to list ARK, 21Shares Ethereum ETF and VanEck Ethereum ETF investment products on CBOE’s BZX Exchange.
The proposed ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF will track the performance of Ether, using the Chicago Mercantile Exchange CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate as the benchmark. Crypto exchange Coinbase will act as the custodian for this ETF.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart highlighted that unlike the earlier S-1 filings, which only indicated a firm’s intention to list a particular investment product on a national exchange, the 19b-4 filings have set the SEC’s decision process in motion.
The Spot #Ethereum ETF Race is officially on. It’s early but i’d estimate a final deadline on these applications to be around ~May 23, 2024.
Notably, we didn’t see a VanEck spot Ethereum ETF S-1 from VanEck earlier because they filed for this thing all the way back in 2021!! pic.twitter.com/jLve8PpPrE
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) September 6, 2023
Seyffart anticipates the final deadline for the SEC’s decision to be around May 23, 2024. He also expressed expectations of witnessing more spot Ethereum ETF filings in the coming days, indicating a burgeoning interest in Ethereum investment products.
This proposals comes on the heels of multiple other spot crypto ETFs awaiting SEC review. The optimism surrounding these filings has escalated following Grayscale’s recent victory, which requires the SEC to reconsider its Bitcoin Trust’s conversion into a Bitcoin ETF.
It is pertinent to note that ARK Invest and 21Shares collaborated to file an S-1 with the SEC on the same day, while VanEck’s S-1 filing dates back to July 2021.
The SEC, now mandated to review the 19b-4 filings, retains the discretion to postpone the decision, a practice previously observed with spot Bitcoin ETFs.
On August 31, just two days post the verdict on Grayscale’s ETF, the SEC declared a delay in deciding on spot Bitcoin ETF applications from seven firms, including BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.
However, the spot Bitcoin ETF from ARK Invest and 21Shares was not included in this delay, with the next deadline for its approval or denial set for November 11.
It is pertinent to note that this is not the firms’ first endeavor in this landscape; they have previously proposed listings of two Ether futures ETFs and are on their third attempt to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF since 2021.
Following the announcement of the Ether ETF filing, Ether’s price saw a brief surge, rising approximately 0.3% from $1,623 to $1,669, before settling between $1,620 and $1,640.