BlackRock Confirms Launch of Ethereum Spot ETF, ETH Skyrockets to 6-Month High
Financial giant BlackRock has confirmed earlier rumors regarding the launch of an Ethereum spot ETF, causing a sharp increase in ETH price.
BlackRock confirms the launch of Ethereum spot ETF. Photo: Bloomberg
On the evening of November 9, the cryptocurrency community was abuzz with news that BlackRock is preparing to open an Ethereum spot ETF by registering it in Delaware. While this information was not yet verified, it was enough to drive Ethereum prices from $1,950 to $2,050.
The iShares Ethereum Trust has just been registered in Delaware.
— Summers (@SummersThings) November 9, 2023
For context, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust was registered in a similar manner 7 days before they filed the ETF application with the SEC. Details below.
[announcement: I’m moving to @SynopticCom soon] pic.twitter.com/IYafIaxMzA
By the morning of November 10, BlackRock officially confirmed the existence of the Ethereum spot ETF by submitting a proposal to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The fund will be officially named the iShares Ethereum Trust, listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange and supported for trading. Coinbase will act as the custodian for ETH holdings in the fund.
This marks BlackRock's second spot ETF proposal for cryptocurrency assets, following the iShares Bitcoin Trust.
In addition to BlackRock, several other organizations including Grayscale, Ark Invest, VanEck, ProShares, and Valkyrie have recently submitted proposals to the SEC to open Ethereum spot ETFs, after the commission approved a series of Ethereum futures ETFs in early October.
UPDATE: BlackRock #Ethereum ETF confirmed. They just submitted a 19b-4 filing with Nasdaq pic.twitter.com/pLhuhhK7jo
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) November 9, 2023
However, the likelihood of SEC approval for an Ethereum spot ETF in the near future remains low, as the SEC typically takes several months to consider such proposals. To date, the commission has not approved any Bitcoin spot ETF proposals due to concerns about market manipulation and fraud.
Nevertheless, analysts believe that the SEC is preparing for potential approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs, especially following recent legal setbacks with Grayscale. They predict a timeframe from November 9 to November 17 for the SEC to potentially approve all 12 Ethereum spot ETF proposals simultaneously.
On November 9, ETH continued its upward trend, reaching $2,132 - the highest since April 2023 - despite slight corrections in Bitcoin and other altcoins.
ETH/USDT 1-hour chart on Binance at 08:00 AM on November 10, 2023
Two Ethereum-based liquid staking tokens, Lido (LDO), RocketPool (RPL), and ssv.network (SSV), also benefited from Ethereum's momentum.
