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It's Ethereum ETF deadline day for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Now sources close to the SEC are saying the regulator has shown signs of warming to the idea of allowing spot Ethereum ETFs to trade.
Unnamed sources told Fox Business that the commission has been taking cues from recent court rulings and its past decision to allow ETH futures ETFs to trade as it considers whether to grant permission for nine funds to begin trading.
Most pressing for the SEC is making a decision on the filings from Cboe exchange to list the VanEck Ethereum ETF and the Ark 21Shares Ethereum ETF.
But that's not all. Counting VanEck and Ark Invest with 21Shares, there are nine total applicants. The rest include BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale—which wants to convert its Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) the way it did its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)—Hashdex, Franklin Templeton, Invesco with Galaxy Digital, and Bitwise.
At the time of writing, the Ethereum price is north of $3,800—that's 2% higher than it was this time yesterday.
Trading volume swelled to $45 billion in the past 24 hours as hype for a potential Ethereum ETF has surged. For reference, that's just $4 billion shy of the amount of Bitcoin that changed hands in the past day, according to Coinglass.
What's more, Ethereum open interest has grown by another 4% to $16 billion. That's also come with some bad news for Ethereum derivatives traders. In the past day $43 million worth of Ethereum futures positions have been liquidated, which is nearly double the value of Bitcoin futures positions liquidated in the past 24 hours, according to Coinglass.
Meanwhile, Gensler faced tough questions in a letter from the House Financial Services Committee yesterday.
Republican lawmakers, including HFSC Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-SC), were curious about the regulator having recently given digital asset firm Prometheum the green light to begin offering an Ethereum custody service.
The fact that Prometheum is an SEC-regulated firm and got permission from the commission to offer the service seems to imply that the commission is treating ETH like a security—even though it has countless times refused to share its position on the matter.
As a footnote: An unredacted version of the Consensys lawsuit against the SEC over its treatment of Ethereum says that an internal memo circulated last year instructed commission staff to treat ETH like a security.