Coinspeaker
Trading of Ethereum Futures ETFs May Start Next Week
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decision on spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications from ARK 21Shares and VanEck. This comes after a September 26 announcement from the regulator saying it had extended the period for deciding on spot Bitcoin ETF applications from ARK 21Shares and Global X.
In notices filed on September 27, the SEC said it would extend the deadline for its decision on whether to approve or reject a proposed rule change that would make it possible for VanEck and ARK 21Shares to list their spot ETH ETFs on the Cboe BZX Exchange. The regulator stated that it had not received any public comments on the proposals and would move the deadline for action to December 25 for VanEck and December 26 for ARK 21Shares. The commission wrote:
“The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein.”
The announcement coincides with the Nasdaq Stock Market’s filing of a proposed rule change with the SEC for the listing of its mixed ETH ETF, which is a mix of spot Ether holdings and futures contracts. On the same day, proposed rule changes were filed with the New York Stock Exchange Arca for the Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust, Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF and the Cboe BZX Exchange for the Franklin Bitcoin ETF.
The SEC has yet to approve a spot crypto ETF in the U.S. but has been more receptive to crypto-linked futures ETFs and a leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF. Reports suggest that the SEC is looking to accelerate the launch of Ether futures ETFs due to an impending government shutdown.
Ethereum Futures ETFs Could Start Trading Next Week
In a September 28 post on the X social media platform, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart stated that it was “looking like the SEC is gonna let a bunch of Ethereum futures ETFs go next week potentially”. This was in response to a post from ETF analyst Eric Balchunas who wrote that he was hearing that the SEC planned to “accelerate the launch of Ether futures ETFs”. He attributed this to an impending government shutdown, adding that the SEC wants the issue “off their plate [before] the shutdown”.
UPDATE: Hearing the SEC wants to accelerate the launch of Ether futures ETFs (bc they want it off their plate bf shutdown) so they've asked the filers to update their docs by Fri pm (no small task to jam into 48hrs, esp for indie issuers), so they can go eff Mon and trade Tue. https://t.co/gKyQFK12aM
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) September 28, 2023
The US government shutdown is expected to begin at 12:01 a.m. ET on Oct. 1 if Congress fails to agree on or provide funding for the new fiscal year.
According to analysts, there are 15 Ether futures ETFs awaiting approval. Companies that are calling for either an Ether future or hybrid ETF product include VanEck, ProShares, Grayscale, Volatility Shares, Bitwise, Direxion, and Roundhill.
In the September 27 note, the analysts further gave Ether futures ETFs a 90% chance of launching in October. They added that they did not, however, expect all of the pending Ether futures ETFs to launch.
