Gary Gensler has suggested that there might be a delay over final approvals for asset managers offering spot Ether ETFs on exchanges.
Gary Gensler, the Chair of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has proposed that there may be a delay in the ultimate approval process for asset managers that offer spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on exchanges.
In a June 5 interview on CNBC, Gensler stated that the SEC’s approval of spot Ether ETFs will require “some time” to proceed, suggesting that the commission may delay or move slowly in approving S-1 registration statements.
The SEC approved 19b-4 filings from VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and Bitwise on May 23. Nevertheless, obtaining the final approvals necessary to list and trade ETFs on U.S. exchanges may require several months.
The SEC chair stated in the interview that cryptocurrency firms were conducting activities prohibited by law for traditional exchanges. This implies that the commission’s stance on enforcement actions will likely remain the same under Gensler.
Ripple, Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken have been the subject of lawsuits by the financial regulator. Nevertheless, the SEC has been compelled to shutter one of its regional offices due to a Utah judge’s order to pay $1.8 million for “bad faith conduct” in court in the case.
While Gensler proposed that the SEC may delay the approval process for the spot Ether ETF, the commission has already initiated the process of eventually listing shares on exchanges. Five months after the SEC approved numerous spots for Bitcoin BTC, the spot Ether ETF 19b-4 approvals were issued.
ETF applications, which signifies an industry first. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas anticipated that spot Ether ETFs would be launched on July 4 before the SEC chair’s remarks.
The five commissioners did not vote to approve spot Ether ETFs, which were approved by the SEC’s Trading and Markets Division, in contrast to spot Bitcoin ETFs. It is anticipated that Gensler will continue to serve as the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission until 2026.
U.S. President Joe Biden had yet to announce whether he intends to nominate a replacement or have SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw remain at the time of publication, even though the term officially ends on June 5.
