SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said the timeline for the launch of a spot Ethereum ETF would depend on how quickly applicants respond to regulators’ questions and provide comments on reasons for approval.
Gensler told Reuters in a June 5 interview that the companies were “self-motivated” to respond to the SEC comments and could decide whether to respond.
Previous reports have indicated that the SEC will comment on the recently amended S-1 registrations of eight spot Ethereum ETF issuers. Applicants will then submit additional revisions prior to launching each product.
Gensler did not say how many weeks or months the process might take.
Grayscale influenced ETH’s stance.
The SEC chairman said Grayscale’s legal victory, which paved the way for approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF, also affected the SEC’s stance on spot ETH products.
Grayscale has argued that the SEC should approve a Bitcoin ETF based on the correlation between the Bitcoin spot and futures markets, just as it approved Bitcoin and Ethereum futures ETFs over the past few years.
Gensler previously said the legal consequences led the SEC to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF in January. He did not connect the results to the SEC’s position on ETH until recently.
Gensler told Reuters that market correlation was key to the SEC approving the latest spot Ethereum ETF. He said:
“(SEC staff) have looked at these (Ether) filings. The correlations are relatively similar to correlations in the Bitcoin space.”
Gensler was interviewed by CNBC.
Gensler made similar comments in a CNBC interview on June 5, saying the launch of a spot ETH ETF “could take some time.” He did not speculate on a release date.
Gensler also told CNBC that the SEC compared the spot Ethereum market to the Ethereum futures market in its recent decision. Gensler said the ETH futures ETF has been trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) for more than three years.
Industry experts have speculated on the launch date, with Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas predicting the ETF could launch by the end of June and considering July 4 as an over/under date.
Polymarket, which represents community betting based on the amount of cryptocurrency staked, lists a 57% chance that the funds will begin trading by July 4.
SEC Chairman Gensler said the timeline for the launch of a spot Ethereum ETF will depend on the speed with which applicants first appear on CryptoSlate.