Cathie Wood's Ark 21Shares, VanEck Kick off Spot Ethereum ETF Race in U.S
ARK 21Share and investment manager VanEck have filed for the first-ever Ether (ETH) spot Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) in the United States.
As per a recent filing with U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ARK21Shares Ethereum ETF would track the performance of ETH by holding the second-largest cryptocurrency directly to support the value of its shares.
Chicago Board Options Exchange's (CBOE) BZX exchange has submitted applications with the aim of launching the first spot ether exchange-traded funds in the United States, seeking regulatory approval for offerings associated with Ark 21Shares and VanEck.
While Ark 21Shares submitted S-1 filing on September 6, VanEck filed for the same in July 2021. CBOE's two 19-4b filings officially starts the clock for SEC to make a decision.
The trust's custodian for both would be Coinbase Custody, which also serves other major fund providers like Grayscale and BlackRock.
ARK Invest proposed the creation of a surveillance sharing agreement with Coinbase, a measure previously put forward in their Bitcoin spot ETF application.
The announcement of the Ether ETF filings briefly influenced the prices of both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), with BTC rising to $25,900 and ETH reaching $1,655. However, these assets soon returned to their pre-announcement values.
The SEC has historically favored futures-based ETFs for Bitcoin, citing investor protections provided by the CME futures market that spot markets can't match.
This stance has led to continued resistance to approving a Bitcoin spot ETF. However, the crypto industry has been closely watching developments in the ETF space.
The SEC has yet to approve any Ether ETFs, citing Ethereum's higher price volatility and regulatory uncertainties
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