Earlier on Nov 9, the crypto community was so excited by the news that BlackRock registered corporate entity iShares Ethereum Trust in Delaware. This news, although not yet confirmed, was enough to push ETH price from $1,950 to $2,050.
Now, BlackRock’s plan for a spot Ethereum ETF has been confirmed, per a 19b-4 form filing submitted to the SEC. The fund has the official name iShares Ethereum Trust, listed and supported for trading by the Nasdaq stock exchange. It would use Coinbase Custody Trust Company as custodian, according to the filing. So, this is the second spot ETF proposed by BlackRock for crypto assets, after the iShares Bitcoin Trust.
Besides BlackRock, other organizations including Grayscale, Ark Invest, VanEck, ProShares and Valkyrie have all submitted applications to the SEC to open spot Ethereum ETFs after the SEC approved Ethereum ETFs. futures in early October. However, the chance of an spot Ethereum ETF being approved in the near future are not high, because the SEC usually takes many months to consider and has so far not approved any Bitcoin spot ETF due to concerns about frauds and market manipulation.
On the other hand, many analysts believe that the SEC is likely to approve a Bitcoin spot ETF after the legal defeat against Grayscale. They even predicted that between Nov 9 and Nov 17, there is a chance for the SEC to potentially approve 12 Bitcoin investment funds.
Following the news, ETH surged to $2,132 – the highest level since April 2023 and is now trading at $2,122 on CoinMarketCap.
