According to Bill Qian, chairman of Cypher Capital and former global head of fundraising at Binance Labs, it is not crypto natives, but rather Wall Street firms and large financial institutions who are pushing for the approval of spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Qian explains that institutional asset management companies have a vested interest in launching and getting ETFs approved because it helps them increase their assets under management (AUM). Companies like BlackRock, Grayscale, Fidelity, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, Hashdex, and Franklin Templeton are all competing for a spot Ether ETF.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decision on VanEck’s ETF application to May 23, and also delayed the decision on the Hashdex and ARK 21Shares spot Ether ETFs. The final deadline for a decision on these ETF applications is in late May. Although the approval of an Ether ETF would be beneficial for those involved in the crypto industry, Qian believes that larger issuers have a greater interest due to the fees they can generate from these ETFs. Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF offers the highest fee at 1.5%, followed by BlackRock and Fidelity with 0.25% and 21Shares with 0.21%.
Before the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, many applicants updated their filings multiple times to lower their ETF fees, in a race to offer the lowest management fees to clients. Among the 10 ETF issuers, Bitwise offers the lowest fees, with zero fees for the first six months and a 0.20% fee thereafter for ETFs with over $1 billion in assets. Qian believes that there is a high likelihood of a spot Ether ETF being approved this year due to the demand from BlackRock, which is the world’s largest asset manager.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, Anticipates that the current Ether ETF approvals will be denied in late May, based on a post he made on March 19.
The SEC’s decision on VanEck’s ETF application is postponed until May 23. It’s understandable that they need more time to evaluate. The final deadline in late May will definitely make for an exciting outcome!
So now big financial institutions are trying to take over the crypto space too? Can’t they just stick to what they know and leave us alone?
Although Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart anticipates denial, I remain optimistic about the approval of Ether ETFs. Let’s stay positive and see what happens in late May! Fingers crossed for a positive outcome!