A JPMorgan government recommended on Jan. 12 that securities regulators are equally more likely to approve or disapprove a spot Ethereum ETF within the coming months.
Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, a Managing Director for JPMorgan, advised The Block:
“In our opinion, for the [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] to approve spot Ethereum ETFs in Could, it could must classify Ethereum as a commodity (much like bitcoin) quite than a safety … That is removed from given, and I wouldn’t put greater than a 50% likelihood to the SEC classifying Ethereum as a commodity earlier than Could.”
He added that the SEC is “nonetheless signaling that it continues to view all different cryptocurrencies exterior bitcoin as securities.”
Panigirtzoglou’s feedback allude to an announcement from SEC chair Gary Gensler relating to spot Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) approvals on Jan. 11.
There, Gensler mentioned that the most recent approvals concern solely ETPs holding Bitcoin (BTC) and recognized Bitcoin as a non-security commodity. Gensler added that the approvals shouldn’t sign the SEC’s views on the securities standing of different crypto belongings; he additionally asserted that the “overwhelming majority of crypto belongings are funding contracts” and subsequently underneath federal securities legal guidelines.
Different sources predict as much as 70% approval odds
Regardless of Panigirtzoglou’s low approval estimate, some sources place increased odds on an upcoming spot Ethereum ETF approval. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has predicted a 70% likelihood of such an approval by Could.
One prediction market on Polymarket suggests that there’s a 57% likelihood of an Ethereum ETF approval by Could 31. These odds are based mostly on over $15,000 price of cryptocurrency bets quite than any particular person’s private stance.
Predictions largely concentrate on Could as a result of the SEC should determine on a spot Ethereum ETF software from VanEck by Could 23. Different candidates together with BlackRock, Constancy, VanEck, ARK Make investments, and Invesco Galaxy have additionally filed for spot Ethereum ETFs, however with later determination deadlines.
The SEC accepted quite a few ETFs that included Ethereum futures in October 2023 however has not but accepted a spot Ethereum ETF.
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