They called for both VanEck and ProShares to withdraw after bidding on Ethereum futures ETFs with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday.
Investment firms sent letters to the SEC on Friday, dampening hopes that the crypto ETF could be approved this year.
An ETF or exchange traded fund is a financial product that tracks the price of an asset or group of assets. However, instead of buying the asset (s), you can buy and trade shares on the stock exchange. Because ETFs are much easier to trade than closed trusts like Grayscale, investment firms are clamoring for crypto-based ETFs to sell.
VanEck and ProShares ETFs would invest in ETH futures contracts, but not Ethereum itself. A futures contract is a type of derivative that determines the price of an asset in advance. For example, if you think the price of ether will rise to $ 3,000, you’d be happy to buy $ 2,500 futures contracts.
But the SEC has yet to approve the crypto ETF. A growing pile of bitcoin ETFs lies on the agency’s desk. Vanek, Wizdomtree and Cryptoin have a separate Ethereum ETF from their Ethereum futures ETFs pending the agency’s review.
Encouraging bitcoin ETFs have been rocked by comments from the Sec Chairman. That’s why
Earlier this month, Sec Chairman Gary Gensler said he would be more open to ETFs related to bitcoin futures, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, rather than Bitcoin itself. Futures Trading is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a subsidiary of the SEC.
That prompted Vanek to submit an ETF offer for bitcoin futures to the SEC next week. This was followed by the proposal of the Ethereum futures ETF, which he now accepts.
Vanek declined to comment. ProShares has not yet responded to a request for comment.
