The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially approved spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), marking the second landmark approval this year.
The approval, announced on May 23, covers 19b-4 filings from major financial firms, including VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and Bitwise.
This decision allows these firms to list and trade spot Ether ETFs on their respective exchanges.
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The SEC has not yet decided on Hashdex's spot Ether ETF application, which faces a final deadline on May 30.
However, before the ETFs can officially start trading, each issuer must still secure SEC approval for their S-1 registration statements. According to Bloomberg analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas, this additional step could take anywhere from several days to a few months.
The approval came during recent speculation about the SEC's stance on whether Ether should be classified as a security.
However, optimism was fueled when the SEC urged applicants to revise their applications on May 20, with one of the key amendments being the removal of staking from several filings.
Following the announcement, the price of Ether (ETH) surged to over $3,900 before settling at $3,801.80 at the time of writing.
This approval for spot Ether ETFs follows the SEC's earlier approval of several spot Bitcoin ETF applications on January 10, a historic first for the industry.
The SEC's decision coincides with a recent vote by the US House of Representatives in favor of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act. This legislation aims to delineate the roles of the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; however, it still requires Senate approval and the President's signature to become law.
