ETFs
Ether ETFs Should Be Fully Approved by September, Says US SEC Chairman Gensler
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler says final approvals for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) trading Ethereum ether (ETH) should be completed this summer, he told senators during a budget hearing Thursday.
Gensler told a Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee during a hearing justifying the market regulator’s budget that the process was proceeding smoothly after the initial approval of a group of ETFs. The agency previously accepted the first round of applications, but it said the final registration requirements — filings known as S-1s — are now handled at the “personnel level.”
Once these filings are approved, the new ETFs can be listed, opening the broader markets to easy-to-trade funds that hold real ether, much like the earlier creation of Bitcoin spot ETFs that hold (BTC).
When asked directly if ETH was a commodity, Gensler answered neither yes nor no, thus maintaining the uncertain position his agency held on the asset. At the same hearing, when asked if it was a commodity, Commodity Futures Trading Commission head Rostin Behnam replied, “Yes.”