Bloomberg’s ETF analyst James Seyffart predicted spot Ethereum ETFs approval by the SEC this year. In a private webinar conducted by CryptoQuant on January 4, Seyffart pointed at the Ether futures ETFs approval after the SEC’s uncontestment of Ethereum’s classification as a commodity with Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Reflecting on the SEC’s acceptance of Ether as a commodity and approval of ETH future exchange traded funds last year, Seyffart reiterated his positive perspectives on the spot Ethereum ETF launch this year. He stated,
The CFTC is blatantly calling Ethereum a commodity. They do not call them securities. […] The SEC has approved Ethereum futures ETFs. So again, Gary Gensler will not explicitly say whether Ethereum is a security or a commodity, but in their action, by approving those Ethereum futures ETFs, they’re implicitly accepting those Ethereum futures as commodities futures. SEC likely had no bandwidth to dispute the classification.
When the ETH future ETFs were first listed for trading, investment firms like Proshares, VanEck, Bitwise, Valkyrie, ARK 21Shares, and some other firms launched a total of nine funds on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He stated that if the SEC were to deem Ether as a security, it could find itself in court and could eventually lead to unlisting future ETFs.
Seyffart stated that classifications between securities and commodity ETFs are important as they have different legal requirements, taxes, and regulatory burdens attached to the securities. Furthermore, if the SEC calls Ethereum a security, it would be going against the crypto industry and also their sister regulator, CFTC. James Seyffart, an ETF analyst, tweeted on X about the possible spot Ethereum ETFs.
The SEC must make a decision regarding spot Ether ETF before the deadline in May 2024 for VanEck, ARK 21Shares, and Hashdex. The deadlines for other firms are expected to come in the following months after May.
Before deciding on Ether ETF, the SEC must decide on the spot Bitcoin ETF before January 10. Seyffart predicts possible approval to bring $10 billion into the Bitcoin ETF within 12 months.
