SEC is expected to give the green light to Ethereum futures ETF: 16 ​​applications are expected to be listed as early as October

According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to approve the listing of Ethereum futures ETFs. Currently, more than a dozen companies, including Volatility Shares, Bitwise, Roundhill and ProShares, have applied to launch Ethereum futures ETFs. Although it is not immediately clear which funds will be approved, according to an anonymous person, officials have hinted that several of the applications may be approved as early as October. The SEC declined to comment.

While regulators have repeatedly refused to allow cryptocurrency-based ETFs, since allowing funds involving Bitcoin futures contracts to trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) at the end of 2021, there has been growing speculation that products based on Ethereum futures (also traded on the CME) will follow.

Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, said he was not surprised by the SEC’s move to approve an Ethereum futures ETF, adding that the decision shows that regulators’ views on different products, such as a Bitcoin spot ETF, can change over time.

According to the latest statistics from Eric Balchuna, as of August 17, there are currently 16 valid Ethereum futures ETF applications, among which the resolution date of the Valkyrie Bitcoin Ethereum Strategy ETF (BTF) may be the earliest, which is October 3, 2023.

Despite this, the SEC's approval of products involving the second-largest cryptocurrency derivatives has been slow, and the U.S. SEC has previously fought with the industry for rejecting a Bitcoin spot ETF. As early as 2022, Grayscale Investments questioned the SEC's rejection of its application to convert its Bitcoin Trust into an ETF after the U.S. SEC rejected the company's first Bitcoin spot ETF listing application, and subsequently sued the court. Grayscale believes that the U.S. SEC has violated federal law by failing to treat Grayscale's application and other similar applications equally.

In response, the SEC believes that the product's proposal to be listed on the NYSE Arca does not do enough to prevent fraud and manipulation. The cryptocurrency field is full of investment risks. The SEC expressed concerns that the price of such assets may be manipulated, liquidity may be insufficient, and the sharp fluctuations in Bitcoin prices may be unbearable for individual investors.

However, according to Twitter crypto KOL AP_Abacus, the appeals court is expected to rule on Grayscale v. SEC on August 19. Most legal experts expect the verdict to be in favor of Grayscale. Although winning the appeal does not mean that the Bitcoin ETF has been approved, it means that the possibility of quick approval has increased.

Although the news that the Ethereum futures ETF is expected to be approved has sparked heated discussions in the market, market confidence has been restored and the market decline has narrowed, but it is still unclear whether the downward trend of the market can be reversed in the future.

Considering that the price of Bitcoin has been hovering around $29,000 since BlackRock submitted an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF, which briefly pushed the price of Bitcoin to $31,000, the optimism brought about by such news is short-lived.