-
The
U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
(SEC)
asked
aspiring
ether
exchange-traded
fund
exchanges
to
update
19b-4
filings
ahead
of
a
key
deadline
this
week. -
The
SEC
had
previously
been
expected
to
reject
the
ether
ETF
filings,
and
while
there’s
no
guarantee
of
approval,
the
move
suggests
progress
is
being
made.
The
exchanges
that
want
to
list
and
trade
shares
of
spot
ether
(ETH)
exchange-traded
funds
are
abruptly
being
asked
by
regulators
to
update
key
filings
related
to
these
products.
Exchanges
are
being
asked
to
update
19b-4
filings
on
an
accelerated
basis
by
the
U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission,
three
people
familiar
with
the
situation
told
CoinDesk,
suggesting
they
may
be
moving
to
approve
these
applications
ahead
of
a
key
deadline
this
Thursday.
That
doesn’t
mean
the
ETFs
will
be
authorized,
though.
Would-be
issuers
also
need
their
S-1
applications
approved
before
the
products
could
begin
trading.
SEC
could
take
an
indefinite
amount
of
time
to
approve
the
S-1
documents,
one
person
familiar
with
the
matter
said,
as
it
isn’t
tied
to
a
deadline.
One
company
in
talks
with
the
SEC
said
it
feels
like
it
might
be
on
the
right
track
for
approval,
in
a
turnaround
from
feeling
some
weeks
ago
that
the
SEC
was
dragging
its
feet,
according
to
a
person
familiar
with
the
matter.
Bloomberg
Intelligence
ETF
analysts
Eric
Balchunas
and
James
Seyffart
raised
their
odds
for
the
approval
of
a
spot
ether
ETF
to
75%
from
25%
on
Monday
after
hearing
chatter
that
the
SEC
could
be
taking
a
more
favorable
stance
towards
the
applications.
They
later
corrected
their
statement,
saying
that
the
odds
were
related
to
the
19b-4
approvals.
The
SEC
is
expected
to
make
a
decision
on
VanEck
spot
ether
ETF
on
May
23rd.
The
SEC
has
been
investigating
whether
ether,
the
chief
native
asset
to
the
Ethereum
blockchain,
is
a
security,
launching
a
formal
inquiry
after
the
network
moved
from
a
proof-of-work
consensus
mechanism
to
a
proof-of-stake
mechanism.
If
ether
is
deemed
to
be
a
security
by
the
SEC,
that
may
be
one
reason
for
the
regulator
to
reject
the
spot
ether
ETF
applications.
One
test
of
the
agency’s
view
on
whether
ETH
is
a
security
has
newly
emerged
at
Prometheum.
The
special
purpose
broker
announced
Monday
it
had
soft-launched
its
ether
custody
service.
The
company
eventually
intends
to
launch
custody
and
trading
services
for
other
digital
assets
–
importantly,
assets
that
are
treated
as
securities
in
the
U.S.,
not
commodities.
UPDATE
(May
20,
2024,
21:10
UTC):
Adds
additional
information
and
context.
