Spot Ethereum ETF by ProShares Under SEC Review, Public Comment Period Open

• ProShares has become the ninth fund to apply for a spot Ethereum ETF listing.
• ProShares has offered futures-based Ethereum ETFs since 2023, but no spot Bitcoin ETF.
• ETH ETF issuers are yet to finalize all documentation and may not be approved for weeks to months.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently announced that it is considering a spot Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) application from ProShares.

This brings the total number of Ethereum ETF applications to nine, with hopes that they will begin trading in the coming months.

ProShares ETH ETF

As per a release  from the SEC, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca had proposed a rule change to list and trade shares of the ProShares Ethereum ETF.

For the next 21 days, the commission requests public comment on the ETF application, from which it will have 45 days to either approve, disapprove, or extend the decision-making period.

On May 23, the SEC officially approved the 19b-4 filings of eight ETH ETF hopefuls that applied to list and trade spot Ethereum ETFs on U.S. exchanges. All applicants are yet to submit a final piece of documentation, the S-1 form. Once this is approved, they can begin trading.

Seemingly, fund issuers are still working to finalize their S-1 forms. So far VanEck and BlackRock appear to be the only issuers to have submitted an amended S-1.

Ethereum ETF, When?

So when will Ethereum ETFs go live? Ideally this year, but they are still subject to additional rounds of comments.

Some think it is unlikely that we will see a staggered release of Ethereum ETFs, and they’ll probably be approved simultaneously, just as they were in January with spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs.

Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart has cautioned  against this notion. He also notes that it’s “intriguing” that ProShares has entered into the application process three weeks after the initial eight 19b-4 filings were approved.

According to Gary Gensler, the process of reviewing and approving the S-1 forms could take weeks if not months, and may likely go through two more rounds of filings before they are ready.

ProShares Big on Ethereum

Interestingly, ProShares is not a spot BTC ETF issuer. But since 2021, it has offered investors the Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO ), which invests in Bitcoin futures contracts instead of owning it directly.

Just as the SEC approved ETH future funds in October 2023, ProShares launched the Ether Strategy ETF (EETH ). Investor appetite has been has been sizeable with the fund reporting to have $102 million  in assets under management (AUM).

It’s pretty impressive compared to ARK 21Shares Active Ethereum Futures Strategy ETF (ARKZ), which has $13.9 million  AUM. However it pales in comparison to the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE ) with over $10 billion in AUM.

Most recently, ProShares upped its Ethereum fund presence with the launch of two leveraged funds, the ProShares Ultra Ether ETF (ETHT ) and the UltraShort Ether ETF (SETH ). According to the disclosure, neither fund invests, or shorts, ETH directly.

So far, these funds have drawn modest investments commanding some $15 million between them, suggesting that investors may be more eager to purchase spot ETH ETFs than invest in futures-based products.

About the Author

Eddie Mitchell

Eddie has been writing news and content primarily for crypto news and industry players over the past seven years. With an eye for the bigger picture, Eddie prefers to investigate the broader implications of a story, as well as explore the weird and wonderful world of crypto. He believes blockchain has already changed the world, but observes the space overall with a skeptical and adoring eye.

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