In Likely Precursor to Ether ETF Approval, Most Applicants Have Submitted Their Final Forms

Applicants
seeking
to
issue
exchange-traded
funds
tied
to
Ethereum’s
ether

(ETH)
have
now
submitted
their
final
documents
needed
to
launch
the
funds,
probably
next
week.

Asset
managers
including
BlackRock,
Fidelity,
21Shares,
Grayscale,
Bitwise
and
Invesco
Galaxy
–
who
are
all
in
the
race
to
launch
ether
ETFs
in
the
U.S.
–
submitted
amended
S-1
filings
on
Wednesday.

Two
industry
sources

previously
told
CoinDesk
that
U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
staff
advised
them
to
file
final
amendments
by
Wednesday
and
that
the
applications
may
be
deemed
effective
–
essentially,
approved
–
by
Monday,
with
trading
to
begin
Tuesday.

In
the
filings,
the
prospective
issuers
revealed
the
final
details
of
the
fund
structures,
including
management
fees,
which
turned
out
to
be
relevant
for
investors
when
choosing
which
spot
bitcoin
ETF
they
would
invest
in
when
they
debuted
early
this
year.
Experts
have
said
that
the

fee
war
in
this
round
of
launches
would
be
similar
to
the
competitive
landscape
then,
when
issuers
kept
lowering
their
fees
to
compete
with
other
funds.

One
similarity
so
far
is
Grayscale’s
distance
from
its
competitors.
The
asset
manager
decided
to
charge
a
significantly
higher
fee
of
2.5%
on
its
main
product
than
others.
Its
Mini
Ethereum
Trust,
however,
is
set
at
0.25%,
in
line
with
others.

“I’m
not
sure
what
Grayscale’s
strategy
is
here,”
said
industry
commentator
Scott
Johnson
in
a

post
on
X.
“Feels
like
they
started
with
the
right
idea,
then
it
got
botched
somewhere
along
the
way.
Investors
selling
ETHE
are
probably
not
going
to
be
charitable
with
your
mid-price
mini
option
after
you
stick
them
with
a
10x
fee
and
force
them
to
realize
gains.”

“Honestly,
they
might
have
screwed
themselves
worse
than
GBTC.
I
didn’t
think
that
was
possible,”
he
wrote,
referring
to
the
Grayscale
Bitcoin
Trust
(GBTC)
seeing
billions
of
dollars
of
outflows
since
it
was
converted
to
an
ETF
in
January
as
other
bitcoin
ETFs
started
trading.

BlackRock
and
Fidelity
will
also
charge
0.25%,
while
21Shares
set
its
fee
at
0.21%.
Bitwise,
VanEck
and
Invesco
Galaxy
are
at
the
lower
end
of
the
spectrum
at
0.2%
while
Franklin
Templeton
will
charge
0.19%.

ProShares
had
not
filed
an
amendment
revealing
its
fee
as
of
press
time.

The
SEC

also
approved
19b-4
forms
for
applications
from
Grayscale
to
launch
a
mini
ethereum
exchange-traded
product
and
ProShares
to
launch
a
spot
ethereum
ETF
on
Wednesday.

Both
companies
are
working
with
NYSE
Arca
as
their
exchange
partner
that
will
actually
list
the
products.
The
SEC
previously
approved
19b-4
forms
from
NYSE
Arca,
Cboe
and
Nasdaq
for
the
various
applications
for
spot
ether
ETFs

near
the
end
of
May,
resolving
a
procedural
hurdle
and

giving
the
strongest
indication
thus
far
that
it
would
ultimately
approve
the
spot
ether
ETF
applications.

The
timing
of
Wednesday’s
19b-4
approvals
suggests
that
Grayscale
and
ProShares
may
also
be
able
to
launch
their
products
at
the
same
time
as
the
other
applicants.
Industry
sources
previously
told
CoinDesk
they
expected
these
products
to
launch
next
Tuesday.

If
Grayscale
can
launch
its
mini
ether
ETF
on
Tuesday,
it’ll
do
so
before
it
receives
approval
to
launch
a
mini
bitcoin
ETF.
The
company
filed
to
launch
a
mini
bitcoin
ETF
in

April,
revealing
earlier
this
year
it
would
charge
a
0.15%
fee
–
in
contrast
to
the
mini
ether
product’s
0.25%.