The price of Ether soared more than 20% to around $3,792 following rumors that U.S. regulators may finally approve a spot Ethereum ETF. The price jump caught traders by surprise as most expected the SEC to delay or reject the first Ether ETF by Thursday.
Standard Chartered is becoming more bullish. The bank said it is 80-90% confident that the Ether Spot ETF will be launched in the U.S. this week.
“Once approved, we estimate the spot ETF will drive inflows of between 2.39 million and 9.15 million Ether in the first 12 months after approval,” said Jeff Kendrick, head of FX Research and digital asset research. “In U.S. dollars, this equates to roughly $15 billion to $45 billion.”
Ethereum ETF Decision Day: Will the SEC give the green light?
Adding fuel to the fire was Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas' prediction of an approval rate, which has now been significantly increased from 25% to 75%.
In a post by I expected everyone else to be rejected as well.”
U.S. market regulators are expected to announce decisions on some Ether ETF applications this week. Analysts and investors had previously thought such applications would be rejected.
Meanwhile, Grayscale's Ethereum ETF surged 23%, hitting $32.76 per share. And the momentum isn't limited to Ethereum, the entire crypto market is cracking. Bitcoin is up 5%, nearing the $70,000 mark.
It took about a decade for a Spot Bitcoin ETF to be approved, and analysts were generally pessimistic about the chances of an Ethereum ETF being approved sooner. However, this sentiment appears to have changed, to the surprise of many.
VanEck, ARK Spot Ether ETF Lead Charge
Currently, the SEC is set to decide on the first applications for spot Ether ETFs. VanEck and ARK Investment Management are at the forefront, with the SEC’s decision deadlines set for May 23 and May 24, respectively. These issuers, along with seven other companies, are seeking approval to launch ETFs that would directly track the price of Ethereum.
This week, Fidelity amended its Spot Ether ETF filing with the SEC. The move follows rumors of a possible politically influenced change in the SEC’s policy on these funds, and reportedly asked the issuer to update its filing (19b-4 filing) before moving forward.
