SEC Calls for Comments on Fidelity’s Spot Ether ETF Application

Last updated: December 1, 2023 00:19 EST
. 2 min read

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is soliciting comments from the public regarding Fidelity’s potential spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Fidelity’s argument

According to a notice filed Thursday, Cboe BZK Exchange is looking to list and trade shares of Fidelity’s Ethereum Trust. The SEC published a notice specifically to “solicit comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.”

The notice claims the lack of a spot Ethereum (ETH) fund “exposes U.S. investor assets to significant risk because investors that would otherwise seek crypto-asset exposure through a Spot ETH ETP are forced to find alternative exposure through generally riskier means.”

The filing continues that U.S. retail investors are forced to either face “the counterparty risk, legal uncertainty, technical risk, and complexity associated with accessing spot ether” or utilize over-the-counter ether funds “with high management fees and potentially volatile premiums and discounts.”

21 days to comment

In particular, the SEC is looking for “written data, views and arguments” concerning the proposed rule change. Those wishing to comment have 21 days to do so.

The notice also lists FDAS, a New York State limited liability trust, as the selected custodian.

Fidelity originally filed for a spot Ethereum ETF on November 17th, just one day after multinational investment company, BlackRock filed for their spot ETF, iShares Ethereum Trust.

The race for a spot ETF

News of Fidelity’s latest venture comes a few months after federal Judge Neomi Reo rejected the SEC’s decision to deny crypto asset manager Grayscale Investment’s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF, claiming “the Commission failed to explain its different treatment of similar products.”

The appeal has since caused a number of applicants to try their hand at a spot Bitcoin ETF, including VanEck Bitcoin Trust, Invesco Gallery Bitcoin ETF, and Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust.

If approved, both spot Ethereum ETFs and spot Bitcoin ETFs could give the crypto industry the opportunity to become more mainstream in America’s greater financial system.

Data analytics firm, CryptoQuant, released data last month proposing that the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF would increase the company’s overall market capitalization by $900 billion, with over $1 trillion pushed into the greater crypto market.

Bloomberg ETF research analyst, James Seyffart, posted on X Thursday that Fidelity’s filing was “just another step in the process” of the company’s application for a spot Ether ETF.

Seyffart concluded that “definitive deadline dates” are expected “in the coming weeks.”