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- 1 ARK 21Shares and VanEck are moving ahead with a spot Ethereum (ETH) ETF filing.
- 2 The entities filed with the SEC for exchange-traded fund offerings for the second biggest cryptocurrency.
The crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) do not seem to stop anytime soon. The financial institutions, who were after spot Bitcoin ETFs, are now moving ahead with the spot Ethereum ETFs. Two prominent players in the financial services domain, ARK Invest in collaboration with 21Shares and VanEck, reportedly filed for ETH ETFs with the U.S. SEC.
Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) filed two 19b-4 applications with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 6, 2023. The filing requests the listing of ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF and VanEck Ethereum ETF on the BZX Exchange of CBOE.
Though the exchange listing request of both ETFs is filed on the same day, their investment product launch requests, the S-1 filings, have different dates.
Concrete Step Toward Ethereum ETF
ARK Invest and 21Shares filed with the SEC requesting approval of their spot Ether ETF under S-1 filing on September 6, 2023. The filing noted that the leading crypto exchange Coinbase would be the custodian for the financial product and it will also gauge the performance of Ethereum (ETH) according to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate.
The S-1 filing from VanEck took place in July 2021.
James Seyffart, ETF analyst at Bloomberg, explained the importance of 19b-4 filings over the previous S-1 filings. He stated that following these filings, the race for the ETH ETFs will see a head start as was seen with the spot Bitcoin filings.
The 19b-4 form is a submission made by self-regulatory organizations like stock exchanges when they seek approval for a rule change from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Conversely, an S-1 filing simply signals a company’s intent to list a specific investment product on a national exchange.
Crypto ETFs Trend Witnesses Another Uptick
The recent crypto ETF filings frenzy initiated with the asset management giant BlackRock’s filing with the SEC for a spot Bitcoin ETF in June this year. It ignited the spirit across the traditional financial players and many more applications for financial products with Bitcoin (BTC) as an underlying asset surfaced in the coming days.
Recent legal victory for Grayscale, the managing firm behind the biggest Bitcoin fund
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) boosted morale again. The court favored the asset manager and considered the SEC in the wrong by rejecting the ETF proposal without reason.
The joint proposal from ARK Invest and 21Shares is just one among numerous spot crypto ETFs currently under the scrutiny of the SEC. After asset manager Grayscale successfully appealed for the SEC to re-evaluate its decision on permitting the conversion of its Bitcoin Trust into a Bitcoin ETF. Several firms now appear optimistic about the possibility of gaining regulatory approval.
With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.
