Bloomberg analyst: Ethereum ETF approval unlikely

Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said spot Ethereum ETFs may never be approved due to the SEC’s view on Ether.

In his latest post to X, Balchunas emphasized that the U.S. SEC considers Ethereum (ETH) a security; therefore, the likelihood of approval of a spot Ethereum ETF is almost zero.

To support his argument, he recalled that the regulator had asked commenters on spot ETFs whether the entities had correctly submitted proposals to list commodity ETFs.

TLDR: the SEC asked commenters re the Eth spot ETFs whether these filers have properly filed their ETF listing proposals as commodities. This shows the SEC is perhaps considering to Eth is a security in their denial. Our odds of approval remain the same: slim to none. Nice job of… https://t.co/g9HGPzGyOp

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) May 14, 2024

“This shows the SEC is perhaps considering to ETH is a security in their denial. Our odds of approval remain the same: slim to none.”

Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst

Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart also believes that the SEC’s chances of abandoning Ethereum ETFs increased after the regulator called ETH security again.

Looks like odds just went up for SEC to deny Ethereum ETFs by claiming #Ethereum is a security. Not a guarantee that they will do this but i think this almost guarantees that the SEC is at least considering it. (not groundbreaking but first i've seen in public SEC documents) https://t.co/JK7M9G9Ttu

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) May 14, 2024

“Also, I should add. I personally still think it’s more likely that the SEC does not claim Ethereum to be a security in these denials that are coming over the next week or so. But we’ll know soon enough.”

James Seyffart, Bloomberg analyst

Last week, the SEC extended the review period for an application to launch an Ethereum-based spot ETF from Invesco and Galaxy. The next deadline is July 5.

In addition, on April 23, the SEC postponed its decision on the Franklin Templeton spot Ethereum ETF with a deadline of June 11. Before this, the regulator extended the review period for a similar application from BlackRock.