Good News for Ethereum (ETH) ETFs in the US, But With a Catch: Bloomberg’s Balchunas

After the US Securities and Exchange Commission made history earlier this year by approving almost a dozen spot Bitcoin ETFs, all eyes in the community turned to the next digital asset in line – Ethereum.

While the landscape didn’t look promising at first, it changed several weeks ago when, somewhat surprisingly, the agency greenlighted eight spot Ethereum ETFs. However, the launch date is still unknown.

When the spot BTC ETFs were approved by the securities regulator, they went live for trading on the very next day, which caused tons of volatility but has been among the most bullish developments in the industries ever since.

The situation with the Ether ETFs is quite different. Although they have been technically approved, there are some irregularities with most S-1 filings and the question of whether they will allow staking, which is a major part of the Ethereum ecosystem. This is why the launch date remains a mystery.

According to Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg’s ETF expert, there’s some good news on that front, as the Commission’s staff has recently made only minor comments to the S-1 applications.

He believes there’s a good chance the documentation will be handled within the next ten days or so, so they could “get it off their plate” before the July 4 US holiday. In other words, Balchunas suggested that the Ethereum ETFs could see the light of day by July 2.

Note: our previous over/under was July 4th so this isn’t major shift but 1) we startted to feel like it would take longer so this is kinda good news and b) we basically decide the over/under on where are most torn 50-50 on where to bet and July 2nd is that date right now.

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) June 14, 2024

Recall that BTC’s price went on a massive rollercoaster in the first few days after the launch of the ETFs. Since then, though, these financial vehicles have attracted billions of dollars and propelled a price surge toward a new all-time high for the underlying asset.

ETH also saw impressive gains ahead of the ETF approvals, but there will likely be lots of fluctuations once they go live for trading.