After Bitcoin, Will the SEC Greenlight Spot Ethereum (ETH) ETF This Year? (Poll)

The US Securities and Exchange Commission finally greenlighted a spot Bitcoin ETF earlier this week, although in a slightly reluctant fashion.

Now, speculations are starting to arise on when the agency will do the same in terms of an exchange-traded fund tracking the performance of the second-largest cryptocurrency.

When ETH ETF?

2023 will go down in history as the year with the most news and developments in terms of ETFs as numerous companies filed for such products for BTC and ETH. Perhaps the trend intensified after BlackRock did so in the middle of the year, and many others followed.

With already nearly a dozen BTC ETFs trading on US stock markets, the focus has now shifted to other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum. Currently, several companies have filed to launch such products, including Grayscale, which is trying to convert its ETH Trust into a spot ETF, as it did with its flagship Trust – GBTC.

The SEC, though, keeps delaying the decision, with most applications now having to wait until May. History shows that the Commission tends to delay or reject crypto ETFs for years before it finally allows them to reach the markets, but will this be the case now as well?

The analytics platform Santiment took it to X to check with the community about their opinion on the matter. It turns out that the majority, over 52% in fact, believe the US will have a spot Ethereum ETF by the end of this year. Roughly 10% are even more optimistic, saying it will be greenlighted this month, while 11.3% don’t see it happening ever.

🤔 With several #Bitcoin #ETF‘s being approved by the #SEC Wednesday, there are growing hopes that #Ethereum and other assets will have their own ETF’s approved next. When do you believe another asset, $ETH or otherwise, have their own ETF be officially accepted for public use?

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 12, 2024

Price Effects?

We saw that BTC skyrocketed in the months ahead of the SEC approvals and even on the first day of trading. However, the trend reversed violently in the following day or so, and the asset slumped by almost $8,000 in 36 hours when the ETFs were already live for trading.

This has given those in camp “sell-the-news” advantage so far. ETH, on the other hand, has just now started to increase in value, which could be a speculative run as many expect an ETF to arrive soon.

As such, it would be interesting to follow how ETH’s price will perform in the months prior and after such a product is approved, if ever.