A few weeks ago, there were doubts about obtaining approval, but at the end of May, SEC leadership, after a prolonged silence, began collaborating with ETF issuers.
Bitwise’s Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan noted that entering the era of cryptocurrency ETFs will allow investors access to over 70% of the liquid market.
Kyle DaCruz, Head of Digital Assets at VanEck, noted that being the first to apply for an Ethereum ETF back in 2021, they long believed investors should have access to Ethereum. According to the expert, Bitcoin is digital gold, while Ethereum is an open-source App Store and gateway to thousands of blockchain-based applications.
Approval of the S-1 filing could make ETH an attractive asset for traditional investors, as funds can be bought and sold through traditional brokerage accounts. Since its debut in January, Bitcoin-based ETFs have attracted tens of billions of dollars in investments.
The approval and commencement of trading spot Bitcoin ETFs in January led to the largest cryptocurrency’s value reaching new all-time highs, with an increase of over 58% in just two months.
Some analysts predict that while a spot ETH ETF could push Ether’s price up to $6,5K, the influx of funds into these ETFs may not be as high as those based on BTC.
Research firm Steno Research forecasts that the newly launched ETFs could receive between $15B to $20B in inflows in the first year, approximately equal to the amount spot BTC ETFs attracted in just seven months. Ethereum lacks the first-mover advantage that Bitcoin had.