According to analysts at Bloomberg, Ether futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could begin trading in the United States as early as next week. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart stated in a recent post that it seems likely that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve several Ethereum futures ETFs in the coming week.
Seyffart’s comments were in response to fellow ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, who indicated that he had heard the SEC intends to expedite the launch of Ether futures ETFs. Balchunas mentioned that the SEC wants to finalize this matter before a potential government shutdown, which prompted various ETF filers to update their documents by Friday afternoon. As a result, these ETFs could potentially begin trading as early as Tuesday next week.
If Congress fails to agree on or provide funding for the new fiscal year, the U.S. government is expected to shut down at 12:01 am ET on Oct. 1. This shutdown is anticipated to have an impact on various federal agencies, including the country’s financial regulators.
The sources for the latest update on the queue of crypto ETFs were not specified by either of them.
According to analysts’ note on Sept. 27, there are currently 15 Ether futures ETFs from nine issuers awaiting approval.
Among the companies proposing an Ether futures or hybrid ETF product are VanEck, ProShares, Grayscale, Volatility Shares, Bitwise, Direxion, and Roundhill.
The analysts have given Ether futures ETFs a 90% chance of launching in October. Valkyrie’s Bitcoin futures product is expected to be the first to hold Ether exposure on Oct. 3.
“We expect pure Ethereum futures ETFs to start trading the following week thanks to Volatility Shares’ actions,” the analysts stated. However, they also mentioned that they do not expect all of the proposed ETFs to launch.
In August, it was reported that Ether futures ETFs could be approved in October, which led to an 11% increase in ETH prices at the time. At the moment, ETH prices have only risen by 1% and are currently hovering just above $1,600.
However, crypto futures products are not generating as much anticipation as their spot-based alternatives. Bitcoin futures ETFs have already been available in the U.S. since 2021.