Ethereum ETFs are yet to gain approval from the SEC despite the success of bitcoin ETFs. Bitcoin ETFs have been approved and trading going on for two weeks now. Nevertheless, talk about them continues to dominate the crypto space. Although the hype around the trading of the funds has died down, it hasn’t stopped firms from shooting for the next best thing. Bitcoin Spot ETFs are expected to be a better trading option and crypto-asset firm Grayscale has made a play for this.
However, there has not been much success on the part of Grayscale. It is likely that the Securities and Exchange Commission will reject the filing to convert its leading bitcoin fund into a spot ETF. The trading discounts in the bitcoin fund points to this. But this is not the only reason. Bloomberg Intelligence recently released a report that outlined why a spot bitcoin ETF is less likely than an Ethereum ETF.
Ethereum ETFs Take The Lead
Bloomberg Intelligence laid out reasons that they believed Ethereum ETFs were far closer to us than Spot Bitcoin Funds. Given that the language in bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs are almost identical, it makes sense that Ethereum ETFs are coming to the market soon. This has been the general sentiment in the space thus far.
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Analysts at Bloomberg see an Ethereum ETF being approved as early as the first quarter of 2022. But explained that this will happen before the market sees a spot bitcoin ETF. The spot bitcoin ETF would no doubt be a superior ETF to the already trading bitcoin futures ETFs. However, the analysts said, approval may still be far off than we think.
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For Ethereum ETFs, expectations for approval were high before the end of the year. But this does not seem to be front of mind for the SEC, which is said to be too short-staffed to properly perform its regulatory activities.
Spot Bitcoin ETF For 2022
Like Ethereum ETFs, the analysts agreed that the market may very well see approval for a spot bitcoin ETF in 2022. James Seyffart explained that approval for the latter would most likely be delayed late into the year.
“Most market participants agree that a spot Bitcoin ETF would be superior to existing futures ETFs, yet SEC approval of the former may be delayed until late 2022 or beyond,” said Seyffart.
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Seyffart, however, did not completely discount the possibility of a spot bitcoin ETF approval in 2022. He adds that regulation would be the major factor in the delay.
“Though a spot Bitcoin ETF is possible in 2022, SEC approval may take longer due to concerns about regulation in the underlying Bitcoin market.” – Analyst James Seyffart
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