Ethereum ETF speculation increases, debut could come in June

June could see the final launch of the first Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as BlackRock is the first to update a major filing required for the launch.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued guidance for several institutions interested in launching their Ethereum ETFs to update their 19b-4 and S-1 filings.

Previously, the SEC approved Rule 19b-4 forms for eight Ether ETF filings, including those from BlackRock (BLK), Fidelity (FNF), Grayscale, ARK Invest, VanEck, Invesco Galaxy and Franklin Templeton.

On May 29, BlackRock finally updated its Form S-1 for its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) with the SEC, nearly a week after the regulator approved its 19b-4 filing. Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, noted in his recent post on

“Good sign. We’ll probably see the rest coming in soon. Then probably another round of sophisticated comments from the staff. Launch a legitimate opportunity at the end of June, but keep my o/u date on July 4.”

James Seyffart, research analyst at Bloomberg, added:

“This is almost certainly the engagement we were hoping for following the passage of the 19b-4s. Publishers and the SEC are working to launch spot Ethereum ETFs.”

However, not everyone took a step forward in the ETH ETF approval process. Hashdex, another issuer seeking approval for a spot Ether ETF, withdrew its application shortly after the SEC’s approval. A similar pattern was observed at Vanguard, as highlighted by Nate Geraci, chairman of The ETF Store, in his latest tweet. He said:

“No surprise, but Vanguard will NOT offer spot eth ETFs on its brokerage platform…”

Amid hopes for approval of the Ether spot ETF, ETH traded at $3,769, reflecting a decline of 2.45% at the time of writing. This was further confirmed by the Santiment investor sentiment data. The results indicated that negative sentiment increased while positive sentiment decreased.

Despite the prevailing negative sentiment surrounding Ethereum, Jaret Seiberg of TD Cowen’s Washington Research Group recently noted:

“This (ETH ETF approval) is coming about six months sooner than we expected… but this decision was also inevitable once the SEC approved crypto futures ETFs.”

“The next step could be an ETF with a ‘basket of crypto tokens’.”

Therefore, as we await full and final approval of the ETH ETF, it will be interesting to monitor the shifts in sentiment within the SEC, especially regarding SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who is known for his anti-crypto stance.