BlackRock amended the S-1 registration statement for the Spot Ethereum ETF in a May 29 filing, taking a step toward approval.
The filing builds on BlackRock's initial registration statement, first filed in November 2023.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seifert called the filing a step toward a public offering after the SEC approved changes to 19b-4 listing rules on May 23.
He said:
“This is definitely the deal we were looking for…”
Seifert reiterated his belief that the S-1 could be approved in the coming weeks, potentially leading to the launch of a spot Ethereum ETF, but acknowledged that “this typically takes several months.”
Placeholder data filled in
The S-1 filing will have several placeholder fields filled in with details about your seed funding.
The fund raised $10 million through a seed funding purchase of 400,000 shares at $25 a share from BlackRock Financial Management, according to the filing.
The sponsor, iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor, can collect fees up to $500,000 per year. The latest filing does not calculate percentage-based sponsorship fees.
The trust will issue and redeem shares only in increments of 40,000. The fund's ticker is ETHA.
Wilmington Trust, National Association is acting as Delaware trustee. Bank of New York Mellon is acting as trust administrator and cash custodian.
Consider redemption in kind
The new S-1 also reintroduces the possibility of issuance and redemption in kind, which would allow transactions between authorized participants to be made in cryptocurrency rather than cash.
It acknowledges that approval of spot transactions is not guaranteed and the timing is uncertain.
BlackRock's original S-1 statement mentioned the possibility of in-kind creation and redemption, but an amended notice to its Nasdaq 19b-4 filing in April said authorized participants would only use cash to create and redeem shares in the fund.
The latest S-1 also specifies that BlackRock will not engage in ETH staking, consistent with a second 19b-4 amendment filed by Nasdaq on BlackRock’s behalf on May 22.
All other ETH ETF issuers have also removed the staking possibility from their applications.
