Amid growing anticipation of the potential approval of a spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States, House lawmakers are pushing the securities regulator to approve the new product.
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers — including Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Democrat Josh Gottheimer — sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler on May 22, asking the SEC to approve spot Ether (ETH) ETFs. The lawmakers argued that a potential spot Ether ETF would offer investors access to ETH in a more regulated and safe format.
“We urge the Commission to maintain a consistent and equitable approach when reviewing upcoming applications for other digital asset-backed ETFs,” the lawmakers wrote, adding:
“Specifically, the Commission should apply the same principles set forth in the approval of the spot Bitcoin ETPs as it evaluates the pending Ether ETF applications as the legal considerations pertinent to Bitcoin also apply to Ether.”
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas took to X on May 23 to share the news about the letter. He emphasized that the letter mentioned ETFs based on “other digital assets,” though it did not clarify any except for Ether.
“It is interesting to me that they say ‘other digital assets’ vs only mentioning Ether. Will be interesting to see how far and how quickly the ETF industry pushes the envelope,” Balchunas wrote. The analyst added that it wouldn’t be surprising if the lawmakers “pounce on SEC vulnerability and file all kinds of coins” to test the limits.
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The news comes amid the cryptocurrency community expecting the SEC to give their decision regarding potential approval of an Ether ETF by the end of this month.
The community has grown more optimistic about potential approval as U.S. lawmakers have been pushing the SEC to approve a spot ETH ETF.
On May 22, another group of lawmakers — including chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Patrick McHenry and subcommittee head Bill Huizenga — demanded the SEC provide records related to the custody services provider Prometheum. They also expressed discontent over the SEC’s response to a previous inquiry on Ether’s classification as a security rather than a commodity.
The news comes amid Hong Kong regulators reportedly considering an opportunity to enable staking for spot Ether ETFs, which started trading on April 30, 2024, alongside spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs. In contrast, the U.S. debuted spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024 but has yet to approve a spot Ether ETF.
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