Spot ETH ETFs set to hit US exchanges Tuesday, July 23

The Securities and Exchange Commission is set to allow the first US spot ether ETFs to go live on Tuesday, July 23. 

The SEC officially signed off on the ETFs late Monday, allowing the funds to launch Tuesday. 

Issuers had been working with the agency to finalize their disclosure documents in recent weeks. Back in May, the SEC approved the 19b-4 proposals filed by the exchanges on which the funds would be listed.

Read more: Digesting the ETH ETF decision: What it means and what comes next

A number of industry watchers had expected the SEC to reject the spot ether proposals leading up to the May decision. That changed a few days prior when conversations ramped up as part of what some guessed may have reflected a politically motivated about-face.

Amended filings around that time clarified that the funds would not stake their ETH holdings. 

While the 19b-4 approvals were a landmark ruling, issuers had to iron out disclosure details with a separate unit of the regulator — the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance — before the funds could be cleared to trade.  

Fund groups, by July 17, had submitted the latest round of registration statements, which included planned fees for the ETH ETFs. People close to the process had indicated they expected issuers to be able to launch the proposed funds on July 23. 

Read more: Does the ETH ETF ‘fee war’ even matter to investors?

Though spot ether ETFs exist elsewhere in the world, the debut of these funds represents a milestone for the US. They are set to launch a little more than six months after the first US spot bitcoin ETFs began trading in January. 

The BTC funds have tallied about $17 billion of net inflows since then. Industry watchers expect demand for the ETH funds to be less, with some inflow estimates ranging from 15% to 30% of the BTC flows.    

Cypherpunk Holdings CEO Leah Wald told Blockworks in a recent interview that the summer is a tough time to launch an ETF.

“I think [reception] can’t be just determined in the first few months of trading,” she said of the ETH funds. “I think it needs to be determined after a year.”

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