Until last week, analysts expected Ethereum spot ETFs to be approved by July 2.
The highly anticipated launch of spot Ethereum ETFs has been delayed.
Analysts had expected approval by July 2, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested issuers submit revised filings by July 8.
“Unfort[unately], we’re going to have to push back our over/under date until after the holiday. The SEC took extra time to get back to people this week, even though the tweaks were very light,” tweeted Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg.
“From what I hear, next w[ee]k is dead bc holiday = July 8th the process resumes, and soon after that, they’ll launch.”
In June, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said Ethereum ETFs will likely be approved by “the end of the summer.” The SEC needs to review and approve the S-1 forms, the second step in launching spot Ethereum ETFs. This process follows the approval of the 19b-4 forms, which the SEC granted in May.
To attract institutional investments, several ETF issuers have announced fee waivers for their spot Ethereum funds.
Franklin Templeton revealed a 0.19% sponsor fee but will waive it for the first $10 billion in assets for six months. Similarly, VanEck announced a 0.20% sponsor fee, which will be waived for the initial $1.5 billion until an unspecified date in 2025.
Notably, both BlackRock and Fidelity haven’t disclosed their fees yet.
Jupiter Zheng, Partner at HashKey Capital’s Liquid Fund, believes that institutions “might find Ethereum attractive for its potential in sectors like finance, supply chain, and technology.”
Meanwhile, Zheng predicts that the ETF launch will trigger a modest rally, although he also anticipates a prevailing ‘sell the news’ sentiment.
