NYSE Arca 'Certifies Its Approval' for Listing Spot Ethereum ETFs, Issuers Await SEC's Final Sign-off

The launch of the Ethereum ETFs is expected to draw institutional demand, which may create a scarcity of the assets.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Documents filed with the US SEC on Monday showed that the NYSE Arca has been approved to list and trade spot Ethereum ETFs from Grayscale and Bitwise.  

• Issuers who want to offer a spot in Ethereum ETF must wait for the SEC to approve their registration statements, which are expected to become effective on Monday.  

Grayscale and Bitwise’s spot Ethereum ETFs have been approved to be listed and traded on the NYSE Arca. This was disclosed in the filings made with the US SEC on July 22. The documents noted the exchange’s approval for the listing and registering of the standard units of both Grayscale and Bitwise Ethereum ETFs.  

The exchange has approved the ETH ETF applications, but it is waiting for a final green light from the security regulators, with the planned start of operations being July 23.  

“We expect them to begin trading tomorrow. That means we should see a bunch of filings on SEC site today that say the ETFs’ prospectuses have gone ‘effective,’” said Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart on X.  

Earlier, on July 19, the Chicago Board Options Exchange announced the upcoming trading of five funds: Some of these include 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF, Fidelity Ethereum Fund, Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF, VanEck Ethereum ETF, and Franklin Ethereum ETF. These funds are also awaiting the approval of the regulatory authorities to attain “regulatory effectiveness.”

The SEC is responsible for the final decision, which is the approval of the S-1 forms that the funds must file before they can start trading. On May 23, the agency approved the 19-b form submitted by the issuers containing their proposed rule changes.  

This means that institutional demand for ETH may create a scarcity of assets. As noted by Kaiko recently, Ether’s market depth is at a mere 1%, which implies that liquidity has dwindled. This scenario could result in increased price fluctuations and may put upward pressure on ETH prices due to increased demand. Currently, the cryptocurrency is at $3,457 and has seen a 1—a 4% decrease in the past 24 hours.

Retail users interested in these ETFs can acquire them through brokers such as Robinhood or Fidelity in the same way as other ETFs and stocks. The management fees for most of these Ether ETFs are expected to be between 0.15% and 0.25%. These ETFs may set the stage for other altcoin ETFs, including Solana’s SOL token.      
 

“Keep in mind after launch there are flows and then add’l ETH products I’m sure, then Solana, and then.. it’s probably never going to end. The dam has broken,” said Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.