Ethereum ETFs Inch Closer Toward Launch as BlackRock Updates Filing

Financial giant BlackRock late Wednesday amended its filing with the SEC for its proposed spot Ethereum exchange traded fund (ETF). The May 29 update for the iShares Ethereum Trust is the first tangible sign of progress toward the market availability of an ETH-based ETF since the bombshell approval of the new financial vehicle last week.

“This is almost certainly the engagement we were looking for,” observed Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart on Twitter. “Issuers and SEC are working towards spot Ethereum ETF launches.”

His colleague Eric Balchunas concurred that it was a “good sign,” noting that the other applicants will likely follow suit. If the SEC promptly provides them with “one more round of fine-tune comments,” he said that there's a possibility spot Ethereum ETFs could debut next month.

“End of June launch a legit possibility, [although] keeping my over/under date as July 4,” Balchunas tweeted.

BlackRock's proposed fund will trade under the ticker symbol ETHA, and the firm clarified that it will not allocate any of its Ethereum toward staking—which will mean potential returns from its ETF will “deviate from that which would have been obtained by purchasing and holding [Ethereum] directly.”

BlackRock first filed an S-1 form with the SEC for its product in November, following similar proposals from ARK Invest, Fidelity, and VanEck. Crypto custodian Grayscale is also in the mix, seeking to convert its Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) into a spot Ethereum ETF. A similar conversion is credited with paving the way for spot Bitcoin ETFs, which were approved in January and led to a surge in the price of BTC and bullish sentiment across the crypto sector.

With spot Bitcoin ETFs now holding over one million Bitcoin, hopes are high that funds based on the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap will similarly move markets upward.

While attention turned immediately toward Ethereum in the wake of Bitcoin ETF approvals, prospects of ETH-based equivalents seemed to dim over the next few months. But the mood brightened significantly two weeks ago with separate reports that the SEC was preparing to approve them after all.

The green light from the SEC is seen by many as part of a broader shift in U.S. crypto policy, a pivotal development due, in part, to the digital assets industry becoming a more prominent factor in election-year politics.