Understanding Ethereum ETF: BlackRock’s Proposal

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• BlackRock has submitted an application for a spot ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) for Ethereum by filing an S-1 registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
• Earlier this month, BlackRock disclosed its proposal for an Ethereum ETF in a filing with the Nasdaq stock exchange and registered a trust for Ethereum in Delaware.
• During Gensler’s tenure as SEC chairman, it is known that he repeatedly refused to approve whether Ethereum should be considered a security or a commodity.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has applied for a spot Ethereum ETF in the U.S.: Details of the application!

BlackRock Files Application for Ethereum ETF

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has submitted an application for a spot ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) for Ethereum by filing an S-1 registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In the application, the asset manager notes that the Trust “aims to generally reflect the performance of the ether price” and specifies that Coinbase, a crypto exchange, serves as the custodian for crypto assets. Earlier this month, BlackRock disclosed its proposal for an Ethereum ETF in a filing with the Nasdaq stock exchange and registered a trust for Ethereum in Delaware.

BlackRock’s Ethereum ETF application follows its submission for a spot Bitcoin ETF in June 2023. This move shook both the crypto and traditional finance worlds, leading to a crypto market rally that propelled Bitcoin to its current price of nearly $38,000. Thus far, the SEC has rejected every application for a spot Bitcoin ETF. At the time of writing, the price of Ethereum is at $2,053, having recorded a 2.7% increase during the day.

Gensler Unable to Decide on Ethereum

During Gary Gensler’s tenure as SEC chairman, it is known that he repeatedly refused to approve whether Ethereum should be considered a security or a commodity. However, when Gensler was a professor at MIT in 2018, he mentioned that the SEC did not classify the crypto asset as a security because it was deemed “sufficiently decentralized.” At that time, Gensler appeared to echo the viewpoint expressed in the widely quoted speech by the former Director of Corporate Finance at the SEC, William Hinman, in June 2018.