First U.S. Ether Spot ETF Filed by Cathie Wood’s ARK and VanEck

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Mina

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ARK Invest, the asset management firm founded by Cathie Wood, has filed for the first Ether (ETH) spot ETF in the United States. This comes after the company’s Bitcoin ETF application was put on hold by regulators. VanEck, another Investment manager, has also submitted a similar application. The clock has now started for regulators to approve or deny these applications.

ARK’s Ether ETF, called ARK21Shares Ethereum ETF, aims to track the performance of ether by holding ETH to back the value of its shares. Coinbase Custody would serve as the custodian of the trust, and a surveillance sharing agreement with Coinbase has been proposed.

The announcement of the Ether ETF filing led to a brief price increase for both Bitcoin and ETH, but the assets quickly returned to their pre-announcement values. The filing noted that shareholders in the trust would not benefit from the same protections as investors in ether futures contracts on regulated futures markets.

The SEC has historically shown a preference for futures ETFs when it comes to Bitcoin. The agency’s chairman, Gary Gensler, believes that the CME futures Market provides investor protections that spot markets cannot offer. While the SEC has not yet approved any Ether ETFs, recent developments have prompted fund managers to submit applications for both Bitcoin spot ETFs and Ether futures ETFs.

It is estimated that the SEC’s final deadline to approve ARK and VanEck’s filings will be May 23, 2024. This deadline is similar to the projections for multiple Bitcoin spot ETF applicants. The approval of these applications could depend on how the SEC responds to Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETF bid after losing to the company in court. Grayscale has argued that the SEC should no longer favor futures Bitcoin ETFs over spot ETFs and should approve a spot ETF to benefit investors.

Overall, the filing for the first Ether spot ETF in the US by ARK Invest and the submission of a similar application by VanEck indicate a growing interest in cryptocurrency ETFs. These filings will now undergo the regulatory review process, and their approval or denial will have implications for the cryptocurrency market and investors..

”altcoins”


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