The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved exchange applications to list and trade eight Ethereum ETFs, in an important step toward receiving spot funding for the second-largest cryptocurrency in the market.
The Commission approved proposals by NYSE Arca, Nasdaq and Cboe BZX Exchange to list and trade the shares of Grayscale Ethereum Trust, Bitwise Ethereum ETF, iShares Ethereum Trust, VanEck Ethereum Trust, ARK 21 shares Ethereum ETF, Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF, Fidelity Ethereum Fund AND Franklin Ethereum ETF.
The regulator approved them “on an accelerated basis”, according to an SEC announcement filed on the commission's website this afternoon.
Thursday's approval doesn't mean the ETFs themselves have the green light, though it removes a major hurdle. reports Bloomberg. Issuers still need the regulator to sign off on their individual proposals and no date has been set for this.
The price of Ethereum rose about 2% Thursday on the SEC news to $3,816 by 6:30 PM ET.
This follows approval of the commission in January of 11 points Bitcoin ETF.
some RIAs took large positions in spot Bitcoin ETFs during the first quarter in the months after The SEC approved the vehicles in January, according to the latest quarterly 13-F filings. That included Legacy Wealth Asset Management, a Woodbury, Minn.-based RIA. with 398 clients and $394 million in AUM, and Quattro Financial Advisors, a Woodlands, Texas-based multifamily office with $988.8 million in AUM.
Hightower also bought a combined $68 million worth of shares in six Bitcoin ETFs, according to its 13-F.
The moves are noticeable considering initial reluctance by some RIAs to distinguish bitcoin ETFs after they were first adopted. The positions also represent some of the largest single investments in any of the 11 spot bitcoin ETFs since their inception.
As of April 23, 11 spot bitcoin ETFs have posted $12 billion in net inflows, according to Aniket Ullal, vice president of ETF data and analytics with investment research firm CFRA. However, when the outflows associated with Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF ( GBTC ) are removed from the equation, other ETFs in the sector saw $28 billion in inflows. While CFRA does not track where inflows come from, market insiders say most allocations are from the retail channel, Ullal noted.