Ethereum
3 questions about the SEC’s abrupt approval of the ETH ETF
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed yesterday that it has approved critical rule changes for allow exchange-traded funds holding Ethereum’s native token, EPF. Many people were caught off guard, knowing that last week almost everyone – from Bloomberg analysts to prediction markets – thought it was a lost cause.
Note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.
I’ve never really understood why SEC Chairman Gary Gensler refrained from approving these spot ETH products, given the agency’s embarrassment during its proactive fight for listing Bitcoin ETFs .
Recall that a three-judge appeals court panel called the SEC’s reasoning for denying (and refusing and refusing) Bitcoin spot funds “arbitrary and capricious” because it had already approved products Bitcoin futures that did essentially the same thing. The same situation has this is true for ETH Moreover, and it is likely that a company would have been happy to litigate the issue in the same way that Digital Currency Group fought for Bitcoin ETFs.
This time, the SEC’s decision seems just as arbitrary, but in the opposite direction. In a interview with Jesse Hamilton of CoinDesk Hours before the approval was made public, Gensler said he would follow “how the courts interpret the law” and that “the D.C. Circuit took a different view, and we took that into consideration and have rotated”.
So why now? What does this mean for Ethereum in the future? And does this bode well for other cryptos?
As many have already noted, there appears to have been a sea change regarding the regulatory situation for crypto. On Thursday, the House took a historic vote to approve the most significant crypto-related legislation to date. This follows the upper and lower houses of Congress voting to repeal a controversial SEC cryptocurrency custody accounting rule.
With significant Democratic participation on both bills, it appears the US government’s long war on crypto is coming to an end. Notably, President Biden announced that he would not veto the crypto market structure bill, FIT21, which the White House officially opposes – a pretty significant concession.
It’s possible that all of these events on the Hill acted as a temperature check and helped convince Gensler that his approach to crypto was becoming a political risk. After all, former President Donald Trump just announced his massive support for crypto – and refusing ETH ETFs on the grounds, allegedly, that the SEC wasn’t having “productive” meetings with candidates would be great ammunition.
To be sure, the SEC hasn’t approved the upcoming listing of ETH ETFs – just Proposals 19b-4 from Cboe, NYSE Arca and Nasdaq, which would allow them to list the funds once companies like Ark Invest, Bitwise, BlackRock, Fidelity and Grayscale, among others, are getting their S-1 filings approved. It could take months.
First, the launch of ETH spot funds means there could soon be a lot more institutional interest in the second-largest cryptocurrency. Not only did this move act as a sort of seal of approval, but it will also create a familiar on-ramp for purchasing the asset for all family and family investors looking to diversify their 401(k)s into hedge funds, largely in the same way that ETFs did for bitcoin.
“A lot of people were caught offside by the Ethereum ETF announcement. Even though the Bitcoin ETF has created a crypto ETF roadmap for wire companies and large registered investment advisors, I still expect many institutional players to now be scrambling to prepare their sales teams to the state of Ethereum and put the appropriate infrastructure in place,” Framework Ventures said. founder Michael Anderson said in an emailed statement.
And while ETFs are really just a way to gain exposure to an underlying asset, it’s also possible that these funds will attract more users to Ethereum itself. One scenario: Since the SEC likely won’t allow money managers to stake the underlying ETH, it’s possible that new ether investors decide they want to do it themselves to earn that extra money. ~3.5% yield.
Likewise, as Variant’s chief legal officer, Jake Chervinsky note on X, the approval likely answers a lingering question: whether or not ETH is a security. Chervinsky said that if these funds were allowed to be traded, it would likely mean that unstaked ETH, in particular, would not be considered a security by the agency. This in itself could entice more institutions to enter the market, given that many are currently hesitant simply due to regulatory uncertainty.
On a more technical level, many questions remain about what this would mean for Ethereum in a world where these funds buy large amounts of ETH (assuming they are as popular) as Bitcoin ETFs. To some extent, buying pressure would be significant for the network and surrounding Layer 2s.
Ethereum instituted a burn mechanism that destroys tokens with every transaction, which has long made the asset class deflationary. But with the growing popularity of L2s and alternative chains like Solana, Ethereum transaction volumes have fallen to a point where the supply of ETH is increasing again, which has long-term implications for price and demand. of the asset. ETFs could help support the ETH economy.
Finally, it will be interesting to see how the funds affect the economics of staking. Some people have been sounding the alarm about the amount of ETH being staked, now that apps like Lido make it very easy for people to lock up even small amounts of crypto. With the possibility of ETFs removing even more ETH from circulation, these concerns could be exacerbated.
As mentioned, the approval of ETH ETFs is something of an endorsement for Ethereum and likely an opportunity for the chain to solidify its already dominant brand position.
“Assuming that the Ethereum ETF sees even a fraction of the institutional flows that the Bitcoin ETF has seen, I think it is entirely possible that Ethereum will solidify itself as the undisputed leader in decentralized application platforms over the next few years, at least in terms of market share and valuation,” Anderson said.
But the move could also open the door for alternative chains like Cardano, Solana, and Ripple to further enter the world of high finance. Of course, Bitcoin and ETH had an easier time (all in perspective) because financial incumbents like CME had already adopted them. Ether futures have already been available on CME for three years, and it is not even clear if other crypto assets are being considered.
It’s also worth noting that while the SEC has implied that it believes ETH is a security, the agency has proactively stated that assets like SOL, ADA, and ALGO fit the definition set by the Howey test used to determine if something is an investment. contract. This may be a speed bump on the road to a spot SOL ETF.