Things appear to be moving ahead of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decision to potentially approve an important filing related to the launch of a spot ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Cboe, an exchange associated with five of the issuers of a potential spot ether exchange-traded fund (ETF), published its amended 19b-4 filings in response to feedback from regulators. The applicants include Fidelity, VanEck, Invesco/Galaxy, Ark/21Shares and Franklin Templeton.

Exchanges supporting various applicants filed revised forms with the SEC earlier on Tuesday, two individuals familiar with the situation told CoinDesk.

Officials with the SEC asked exchanges to refile using universal comments – where they all use the same wording – one individual told CoinDesk.

Several people told CoinDesk across Monday and Tuesday that SEC officials haven't explicitly said they were approving the applications, but that the feedback was still significant. A final approval on the applications is still not guaranteed, but the agency asking for revisions on the 19b-4 forms suggests progress is being made. One of the individuals told CoinDesk they expect multiple approvals this week.

While the 19b-4 forms might be approved as soon as this Thursday – when the first one, an application by VanEck and Cboe, faces a final deadline – the spot ether ETFs can't launch until the SEC also approves the S-1 forms filed by the issuers themselves. There appears to be less movement on this front than with the 19b-4 filings. A few applicants have already begun revising their S-1 forms, however.

It appears that the SEC won’t allow issuers to stake the potential ETFs, which several applicants, including Grayscale and Fidelity, hoped to do. Both asset managers on Tuesday filed an amended S-1 registration statement removing staking from their documents.

Ether's price traded around $3,790 as of press time according to CoinGecko, up 3.8% over the last 24 hours and maintaining a $600 jump from its price on Monday before optimism for an ETF approval first resurfaced.

Source : CoinDesk / May 22, 2024