Amid an air of mounting doubt and palpable pessimism, Ethereum Spot Exchange-Traded Fund’s chances of approval seem to dwindle, though the anticipation leading up to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ultimate verdict suggests the importance of such a decision. Traditional investors eye this opportunity as a gateway to Ethereum’s spot market, a sector that otherwise remains largely untapped. However, the world’s largest prediction market, Polymarket, reveals that chances of the approval have plummeted to a scanty 11%.
This undercurrent of uncertainty grows stronger as May, the appointed review month, rapidly approaches, casting an ominous cloud over the forthcoming verdict. The SEC’s deafening silence on the matter lends itself to such speculation, a phenomenon duly noted by Nate Geraci, president of ETF Store. Mr. Geraci’s predictions suggest considerable hesitation on the SEC’s part to approve the product this month, attributing this potential reluctance to a waning level of direct engagement between the regulatory watchdog and the ETF issuers, as seen in past interplays.
Visibly troubled by the possible outcome, Mr. Geraci contrastively suggests either approval or subsequent litigation as potential outcomes, pointing particularly to the SEC’s precedented stumbling blocks with Bitcoin ETFs.
This claim spawned conjecture among market spectators, with a nameless X user pondering whether secret dialogues might be underway behind closed doors to avoid disturbing the pre-launch market. Mr. Geraci speculatively affirms this possibility, pointing to CEO of Van Eck, Jan Van Eck’s review as a potential refutation.
Notably, Van Eck had been among the first firms to lodge its application for an Ethereum exchange product. Interestingly, despite reserving the privilege of being the first to file, Mr. Van Eck holds reservations regarding the prospect of approval, hinting at probable rejection come May.
He drew an analogy with the process of vetting applications, stating, “Regulators furnish you with comments on your application. That was the procedure before the Bitcoin ETFs, and at present, it’s eerily silent concerning Ethereum.”
Under this shroud of uncertainty, investors ready themselves for an unforeseen outcome, adjusting their financial strategies along ever-evolving regulatory lines.
Nevertheless, Ethereum itself seems to deflect this overtly negative sentiment, recently experiencing an upswing. After briefly dipping below the $3,000 mark, the currency rebounded over the weekend and appreciated by over 4%, hitting an approximately $3,234 value today, suggesting further recovery. Currently trading at $3,215, Ethereum registered a 1.40% increase in the past 24 hours. The asset’s market cap and trading volume also rose by 1.40% and 5.96% in this duration. Given the concurrent potential impact of Bitcoin’s recent halving on cryptocurrencies, Ethereum seems well-positioned for significant upheavals in the ensuing months.
