According to Blockworks, executives at Ark Invest and 21Shares, two issuers jointly looking to launch a spot ether ETF, have differing views on whether such funds will gain near-term approval. Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood said this week that the probability is probably going down for the Ark 21Shares Ethereum ETF, and other similar products, to be approved in May. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to rule on spot ether proposals on or around May 23, when the regulator's 240-day clock to decide on the first such applications expires.
Wood mentioned that one of the tell-tale signs for bitcoin that something was going to happen with the spot bitcoin ETF was the fact that they were communicating with the SEC. However, she believes that the SEC is still biding its time, maybe studying the issues. The SEC approved 10 spot bitcoin ETFs in January, the first products of their kind to hit the US market. Ark Invest partnered with European crypto ETP specialist 21Shares to launch one of those BTC funds, which currently has roughly $3 billion in assets under management.
21Shares co-founder Ophelia Snyder noted the main reason that bitcoin ETFs were approved was a Grayscale legal victory over the SEC last year. Judges ruled in an August decision that the SEC allowing bitcoin futures ETFs, but blocking the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) from becoming an ETF, was arbitrary and capricious. The SEC allowed ETFs that hold ether futures contracts to start trading in October. Snyder told Yanowitz she is less bearish than Wood and others around the chance of spot ether ETFs gaining approval soon, as there are not a lot of differences between these filings for Ethereum and the filings for bitcoin. However, Wood said she believes the language in proposals around staking the planned funds' assets has been a sticking point for the SEC.