Jimmy Ragosa, product manager at Consensys, estimates that the SEC could be days away from approving the S-1 documents relating to Ethereum spot-based ETFs.
The Consensys exec issued the prediction in reaction to Bitwise’s amended Ethereum ETF S-1 document, submitted on June 18. Comparing the amended filing with the previous one, Ragosa highlighted that Bitwise did not reveal the fee structure and initial investment in the revised S-1 document.
He also said Bitwise’s June 18 filing with the SEC contained updates on risk factors, legal & regulatory statements, contact information, and distribution plan. Notably, Ragosa said if the aforementioned updates were the only SEC comments, the regulator could approve the S-1 filings in the coming days.
Compared that S-1 with the previous one & changes are minor.
– Fee structure & initial investment by Bitwise but left blank
– Some risk factors, Legal & Reg. Statements, Contact Info, Plan of Distribution updatesIf those were the only SEC comments, the approval is days away. https://t.co/P1ryO7j8Sr
— Jrag.eth (@JimmyRagosa) June 19, 2024
SEC Requests ‘Light’ Comments
The development comes less than a week after the SEC staff sent comments to prospective issuers of Ethereum ETFs regarding their S-1 filings. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas confirmed the development on June 14, noting that the SEC’s remarks were ‘pretty light.’
He said the SEC mandated the prospective Ethereum ETF issuers to submit the amended S-1 filing this week.
Last month, Ethereum ETFs took a major step toward launching in the U.S. after the SEC approved eight 19b-4 documents from exchanges requesting to list these products. Currently, the SEC’s approval of the S-1 documents is the only factor preventing the launch of Ethereum ETFs on U.S. exchanges.
Potential Timeline for Ethereum ETF Launch
Interestingly, Balchunas estimated that the SEC could approve the S-1 documents on or before July 2, paving the way for the launch of Ethereum ETFs.
Before his projection, the Bloomberg analyst set July 4 as the potential launch date for the Ethereum ETF. However, with the SEC asking the issuers to update their S-1 filings with limited comments, Balchunas revised the timeline to July 2, less than two weeks from now.
UPDATE: we are moving up our over/under date for the launch of spot Ether ETF to July 2nd, hearing the Staff sent issuers comments on S-1s today, and they're pretty light, nothing major, asking for them back in a week. Decent chance they work to declare them effective the next… https://t.co/XJZ8JLwEFF
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) June 14, 2024
It is unclear whether the SEC might request more updates on the S-1 filing. In the meantime, the SEC has wrapped up its investigation into whether certain Consensys’ sales of ETH qualify as security.
The SEC did not recommend any enforcement action based on the conclusions of its investigations. Therefore, this suggests that the regulatory status of ETH would not hinder the potential launch of Ethereum spot-based ETFs.
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