In a surprising turn of events on May 21, the SEC requested exchanges like NASDAQ, NYSE, and CBOE to fine-tune their application filings for ETH ETFs. Now, Gary Gensler’s comments state that final approvals may be very close.
With BTC ETFs approved a little over five months earlier, the crypto industry rejoiced when the SEC asked for ETH ETF filings and approved it on May 23. This first step in greenlighting the ETFs required exchanges to submit their 19b-4 filings to the agency.
The next step is where we’re at, with the SEC having to approve the S1 filings submitted by the ETF issuers before the products can trade on exchanges. This process can take anywhere between a few weeks and months as it requires a lot of back-and-forth between the regulator and the institutions about financial disclosures. Many believed the SEC may drag it out for months – Gensler says otherwise.
“These registrants are self-motivated to be responsive to the comments they get, but it‘s really up to them how responsive they are,” Gensler said, according to Reuters. It seems he declined to comment on the duration of the final approval – if it would take weeks or months.
Nevertheless, this is a sign that things are heading in the right direction because ETF issuers can expect to receive approvals sooner if they fill the SEC in regarding their financial disclosures quickly. Gensler’s statements suggest that the SEC will act as swiftly as the ETF issuers get back to them with the needed information and clarifications. That is opposed to what most thought – the SEC taking long periods to approve the filings.
When asked about why the SEC changed its intentions on approving ETH ETFs, considering its stance about Ether being a security token, Gensler stated, “looked at these (ether) filings, looked at the various correlations… the correlations are relatively similar to the correlations in the bitcoin space,” referring to the approval of BTC ETFs.
While we can only speculate on the timing of ETH ETF approvals, Gensler’s statements make it seem sooner than later.
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