Gary Gensler, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has revealed that the S-1 application for an Ethereum Spot ETF might be approved by the end of summer, which means these funds could start trading around that time. Typically, summer in the U.S. lasts from June to August.
Gensler made this announcement during a Senate hearing on the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) financial budget for 2025.
“Individual issuers are still working through the registration process. That’s working smoothly,” Gensler posited in a June 13 hearing of the Senate Banking Committee discussing U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2025 budget requests for the SEC. “I would envision that sometime throughout this summer, they’ll be [approved].”
On May 24, the SEC accepted applications for Ethereum Spot ETFs from various major financial firms like VanEck and BlackRock. Specifically, the SEC approved Ethereum ETF proposals from Grayscale and Bitwise to be traded on the NYSE; iShares (BlackRock) on Nasdaq; and VanEck, ARK/21 Shares, Invesco, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton on the Cboe BZX exchange.
However, Bloomberg’s ETF analysts note that the SEC has only approved these Ethereum ETF proposals based on the 19b-4 filings. The next step for ETF issuers is to complete and submit the S-1 filing to the SEC to determine the official start of trading. Industry experts predict that Ethereum ETFs could go live by July or August, depending on how quickly the SEC responds and resolves any issues.
