by Hannah Lang and Suzanne McGee
(Reuters) – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. stock watchdog, on Thursday approved registration applications from Nasdaq, CBOE and NYSE to list price-linked exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ether, paving the way for the trading of these financial products later this year.
Although ETF issuers must still get the green light from the SEC before these products can be brought to market, Thursday’s approval represents a surprise victory for these companies and by extension for the cryptocurrency industry which, until ‘as of Monday, expected a rejection of a registration request.
Nine management companies, including VanEck, ARK Investments/21Shares and BlackRock, hope to launch ETFs linked to ether, the second largest cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, which has had a spot ETF since January.
“This is an exciting time for the entire industry,” commented Andrew Jacobson, vice president and head of legal at 21Shares, noting that this is an “important step” towards trading these products.
The SEC had until Thursday to rule on VanEck’s request. Market participants expected a refusal, because the SEC had not made any commitments to them.
But to everyone’s surprise, SEC officials asked stock market operators on Monday to quickly look into this matter, forcing them to rush to complete weeks of work in just a few days, according to sources.
Reuters could not determine what apparently led the SEC to change its mind.
“The introduction of spot bitcoin ETFs has already demonstrated significant benefits for digital assets (…), and we believe that spot ether ETFs will provide similar guarantees for US investors,” notes Rob Marrocco, global head ETP (Exchange Traded Products) quotes at Cboe Global Markets.
Nasdaq and the NYSE declined to comment on the matter.
Questioned by journalists at an industry event on Thursday, Gary Gensler, the chairman of the SEC, who has so far displayed his skepticism towards cryptocurrencies, refused to speak. An SEC spokesperson said in an email that no comment would be made.
Ether fluctuates between $3,628.2 and $3,854.09 on Friday, while bitcoin trades between $66,600.08 and $68,288.75.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York and Suzanne McGee; with contributions from Douglas Gillison; by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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