Financial giant VanEck said it would launch Ethereum Strategy ETF (EFUT), an Ethereum futures exchange-traded fund (ETF), which is designed to seek capital appreciation by investing in Ether futures contracts. It is the first launch of an Ethereum ETF in the US but VanEck didn’t provide a specific date.
As its name suggests, EFUT will only invest in standardized, cash-settled ETH futures contracts, traded on commodity exchanges registered with the CFTC. Currently, ETH futures contracts that VanEck intends to invest in are those traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).
EFUT will be listed on CBOE and managed by VanEck’s head of Active Trading, Greg Krenzer, who joined the firm in 1994 and has over 20 years of experience trading a variety of asset classes, including futures contracts.
EFUT will combine with VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF (XBTF), a Bitcoin ETF which is based on Bitcoin futures and listed on CBOE stock exchange in Oct 2021.
The ETF wave has been reactivated over the past several weeks with a lot of crypto firms joining the race. Volatility Shares, Direxion, Bitwise, ProShares, Roundhill, Valkyrie and most recently Grayscale have all filed for Ethereum futures ETF.
In fact, the SEC accepted several Bitcoin futures ETF proposals since Oct 2021 but still says no to spot ETFs, arguing that the market is full of risks and scams. BlackRock was the first company to file an SEC application for a spot Bitcoin ETFs, followed by Fidelity, WisdomTree, Valkyrie, Invesco, and more.
VanEck has filed applications for both the Ethereum Futures ETF and the Ethereum Spot ETF, but only Ethereum Futures ETF has been approved. ETH price is recovering to its highest level since mid-September after this news.
