According to the CEO of investment firm VanEck, the likelihood of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in May is low.
Jan van Eck told CNBC that the absence of feedback from the SEC regarding the list of pending Ether ETFs was not a positive indicator for approval by May, stating that “pins are dropping.”
Echoing his earlier comments, VanEck’s CEO, Jan van Eck, asserted during an April 9 interview with CNBC that his firm’s spot Ethereum ETF application was unlikely to receive the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) stamp of approval.
He highlighted that VanEck and Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest were among the first to file for spot Ether ETFs in the United States, with final decisions pending on May 23 and May 24, respectively.
“The way the legal process goes is that regulators will give you comments on your application and that happened for weeks and weeks before the Bitcoin ETFs, but now pins are dropping as far as Ethereum is concerned.”
CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti was equally pessimistic, telling CNBC, “I don’t see anything being approved this side of the year.”
Van Eck’s remarks follow a period of extended inactivity by the U.S. SEC concerning seven pending applications for spot Ether ETFs.
Additionally, numerous commentators, including Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, have pointed to the continuous “radio silence” between the regulator and potential fund issuers as a significant factor in the decreasing probability of an ETF approval in May.
With a decisive ruling from the SEC looming on May 23, VanEck’s spot Ether ETF application stands at the vanguard of seven prospective issuers awaiting approval.
Joining VanEck’s ambitious bid are Grayscale, BlackRock, and Fidelity, three giants of the financial industry that, despite their diverse backgrounds, have all set their sights on launching an Ether ETF.
Balchunas revised his likelihood of an Ether ETF approval by May from 70% to 35%. In an X post on April 9, he reiterated his position on the pending approvals, echoing sentiments expressed by Van Eck. The analyst had initially decreased his approval odds to 35% back in March.
“As we’ve said, need SEC to give comments on the filing documents (the “critical feedback” he mentions) and that still ain’t happening, even in person they offering nothing. Silence is violence.”
Fellow ETF analyst James Seyffart offered a similar take, saying that “zero comments/interactions is a bad sign.”
“There’s no reason for the SEC to have done absolutely nothing for months when we knew this was coming,” he added.
Since its mid-January launch, VanEck’s spot Bitcoin ETF, trading under the ticker HODL, has become the fifth largest among the 10 newly launched funds (excluding Grayscale). Data from Farside Investors shows that it has seen an inflow of $461.7 million.
VanEck commented on the success of Bitcoin ETFs, describing Bitcoin as a “maturing asset.” He further noted that there are still many investors who have yet to gain exposure to the asset.
