Following the recent approval of an Ethereum spot exchange-traded fund, Standard Chartered bank analyst Geoffrey Kendrick said the next chapter for cryptocurrency ETFs could be just around the corner in 2025.
“For other coins, e.g. brush
+0.65%
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XRP
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“The market will look ahead to the final ETF status, although this will likely be a 2025 story rather than a 2024 story,” Kendrick, head of foreign exchange and digital assets research at Standard Chartered Bank, said in a statement to The Block on Friday. .
The approval of the Ether spot ETF on Thursday suggests that ETH is not classified as a security by the SEC, meaning other ETH-like coins that have previously been investigated in cases such as the 2023 XRP incident may not be considered securities either. According to Kendrick.
“The core technology is often so similar to ETH that it would be difficult for the SEC to argue that ETH is a security given its position,” Kendrick said. “The cryptocurrency industry now appears to have political support on both sides.”
He called U.S. support for cryptocurrencies “a true watershed moment.” Kendrick said the next question is not if the market will see additional regulatory changes, but when.
‘BTC+ETH dominance will increase’
The market is expecting more cryptocurrency ETFs, but for now Kendrick expects the dominance of Bitcoin and Ethereum to increase, especially in terms of Sharpe ratio, and for certain “next” winners to emerge.
Kendrick continues to expect strong inflows into the spot Bitcoin ETF, which would result in a BTC price target of $150,000 by the end of the year. “A portfolio containing both BTC and ETH ETFs is likely to be attractive, and the SEC’s ETH decision further validates the industry,” Kendrick said.
Regarding the ETH ETF, Kendrick said he expects trading to begin next month and reiterated that these funds could bring in as much as $15 billion to $45 billion worth of funds within the first 12 months. He also repeated his previous prediction that ETH would reach $8,000 by the end of the year.
The SEC only approved a Form 19b-4 for the spot ETH ETF on Thursday, with the S-1 registration still pending approval for the fund to begin trading. Approval for Form 19b-4 was granted to eight applicants, all in one omnibus order: Grayscale, Bitwise, BlackRock, VanEck, Ark 21Shares, Invesco, Fidelity and Franklin.
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