Three additional United States-based asset managers with spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund applications in the pipeline have amended their 19b-4 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In a May 22 filing from the Nasdaq Stock Market, asset management firm BlackRock amended its spot Ether ETF 19b-4 application to remove provisions for staking. Grayscale and Bitwise filed similar amendments with the New York Stock Exchange Arca. Having the SEC approve the 19b-4 filings would be a step toward greenlighting the listing and trading of spot Ether ETFs on exchanges.
“Neither the Trust, nor the Sponsor, nor the Ether Custodian [...] nor any other person associated with the Trust will, directly or indirectly, engage in action where any portion of the Trust’s ETH becomes subject to the Ethereum proof-of-stake validation or is used to earn additional ETH or generate income or other earnings,” said the amended BlackRock filing.
On May 21, applications from Fidelity, VanEck and Franklin Templeton, Invesco Galaxy and ARK 21Shares reflected similar amendments to remove staking. The SEC is expected to decide whether to approve or deny listing and trading by May 23, when the regulator reaches its final deadline for VanEck’s application.
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For many in the crypto space, the SEC decision is becoming entangled in discussions about Congress considering passing legislation to better define the regulator's role in digital asset regulation. At the time of publication, lawmakers in the House of Representatives were debating the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act before a vote.
The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation lists VanEck’s Ether ETF under the ticker symbol ETHV — a positive, but not definitive, sign that the asset manager is preparing for SEC approval. It’s unclear whether the commission will move forward with the approval of spot Ether ETFs as it did with spot Bitcoin (BTC) investment vehicles in January.
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