From Vaneck to Blackrock, opinions differ on validation of ether spot ETFs by the SEC

The bosses of the two industry giants do not share the same opinion on the validation of ether spot ETFs by the American stock market watchdog.

If the American stock market watchdog (the SEC) has accepted spot bitcoin ETFs since January, the case of spot ether ETFs is more problematic. At the start of the year, investors were rather optimistic, sending the price of ether soaring, but the industry is starting to lose hope. Jan van Eck, Vaneck’s boss, thinks that his spot ether ETF application “will probably be rejected”, unlike his product indexed to the price of the queen of cryptos.

“The way the legal process is going is such that the regulators are giving you feedback on your application, this is what happened for weeks and weeks for bitcoin ETFs, but now, regarding Ethereum, silence is total,” the latter declared on CNBC.

To date, eight investment funds have filed for spot ether ETFs, including Blackrock. Several funds, including Vaneck, Hashdex and ARK 21Shares, are awaiting a response from the regulator by May. However, one of the sticking points raised is that the SEC has still not ruled on the qualification of ether as a financial security or as a “commodity”.

A crypto that it qualifies as a financial security falls under its authority, unlike a crypto considered as a commodity. The SEC has called bitcoin a “commodity,” which may explain its leniency toward spot bitcoin ETFs. But when it comes to ether, the question still arises. It is possible that the SEC will decide on this question in its first decisions.

Unlike Jan van Eck, Larry Fink, the boss of the giant Blackrock, thinks that it will be possible to launch a spot ether ETF even if the SEC qualifies ether as a “security” (financial security).

As a reminder, on January 10, the American stock market watchdog (the SEC) has authorized 11 spot bitcoin ETFs, offered in particular by asset managers like Blackrock and Fidelity. An ETF (or Exchange Traded Funds) is an index fund trading on a stock exchange which follows the evolution of a stock index (or one or more financial or physical assets, such as gold) by replicating the increase as well as the drop in the price of this index (or these assets).