After a long period of silence, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems to have really given up its attempt to block the listing of an Ethereum ETF, although the agency has continued to emphasize that the cryptocurrency market is full of irregularities and fraud.
On Wednesday, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said when an ETF tied to the cryptocurrency ether could begin trading would largely depend on how quickly issuers respond to the agency's inquiries.
This statement reveals the SEC's attitude that it will normally approve the listing of the Ethereum ETF, which is obviously different from the market's previous expectation that the agency will try to delay or even sabotage the listing of the Ethereum ETF.
Last month, the SEC approved the Ethereum spot ETF listing applications from Nasdaq, CBOE and NYSE, which surprised the market. Most industry analysts had previously warned that the SEC might reject all applications at the last minute.
Legal pressure
Gensler noted that last year, a lawsuit filed by crypto industry trader Grayscale forced the SEC to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF in January, which also influenced the SEC's view on Ethereum ETF products.
At that time, the court ruled that Grayscale won its lawsuit against the SEC and successfully promoted the listing of Bitcoin ETF. Gensler also admitted in a post-court filing that approving such products may be the most sustainable path forward for the industry.
Subsequently, Grayscale seemed to have successfully convinced the SEC that since it had already approved the Bitcoin ETF, the agency had no reason to reject the listing of the Ethereum ETF because the latter also met the condition that futures prices were highly correlated with spot prices.
Gensler also admitted that after the SEC staff reviewed the relevant documents and studied various correlations, the degree of correlation between Ethereum futures and spot was relatively similar to that in the Bitcoin field. He said that the court's ruling made the SEC make strategic adjustments.
This statement means that from a procedural perspective, the SEC has no reason to prevent the listing of the Ethereum ETF. But Gensler continued to emphasize on Wednesday that the crypto field is full of fraud, scams and conflicts.
The market previously expected that the Ethereum ETF might be listed in July this year, and crypto analysis company K33 Research said in a report that the Ethereum ETF might attract $4 billion in inflows in the first five months after its listing.
