It seems improbable that the US Securities and Exchange Commission would approve a spot Ether ETH exchange-traded fund in May, according to the CEO of financial firm VanEck.
Jan van Eck stated that his company's application for a spot in Ethereum ETF will "probably be rejected" in an interview with CNBC on April 9.
He mentioned that, together with Cathie Wood's ARK Invest, his company was the first in the US to apply for a spot in Ether ETF. Both parties await a final judgment on May 23 and 24, respectively.
"Regulators will comment on your application as part of the legal process; this process took place weeks and weeks before the introduction of Bitcoin ETFs, but as far as Ethereum is concerned, things are moving more slowly."
Jean-Marie Mognetti, the CEO of CoinShares, had a similar lack of optimism, telling CNBC, "I don't see anything being approved this side of the year."
Van Eck's remarks are in response to the SEC's protracted silence on a list of seven applications for spot Ether ETFs that are still pending.
Several analysts have also pointed to the continued "radio silence" between the regulator and potential fund issuers as a major factor contributing to the growing improbability of a May ETF clearance, including Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
On May 23, Van Eck, the first of seven fund issuers seeking approval—including Grayscale, BlackRock, and Fidelity—will receive a final decision about their Ether ETF application.
"Balchunas reduced his official odds of a May approval for an Ether ETF from 70% to 35%. In a post on X on April 9, the analyst restated his position regarding the imminent approvals and mirrored van Eck's thoughts. In March, the analyst lowered his chances of approval to 35%."
We have stated that the SEC must provide comments on the filing materials (the "critical feedback" he refers to), but even when they do so in person, they still fail to do so. Being silent is violent.
James Seyffart, another ETF expert, had a similar stance, stating that "zero comments/interactions is a bad sign."
He said, "There's no excuse for the SEC to have done nothing at all for months when we knew this was coming."
Except for Grayscale, VanEck's spot Bitcoin ETF (ticker: HODL) is the fifth largest of the 10 recently introduced funds. According to data from Farside Investors, it has received $461.7 million in inflows since its mid-January launch.
Regarding the triumph of Bitcoin ETFs, Jan van Eck characterized Bitcoin as a "developing asset," noting that a considerable number of investors have not yet been exposed to the asset.
April 2024, Cryptoniteuae