Ethereum Spot ETF Dream Dashed? Expert Pessimistic On Approval Prospects

Within
the
cryptocurrency
investment
space,
there
has
been
much
debate
and
conjecture
around
the
possibility
of
an
Ethereum
Spot
Exchange-Traded
Funds
(ETFs).
However,
in
light
of
ongoing
regulatory
obstacles,
senior
Bloomberg
Intelligence
analyst
Eric
Balchunas
has


offered

a
gloomy
view
of
the
products,
noting
that
the
firm
is
now
more
pessimistic
than
ever
about
the
likelihood
of
the
funds
being
approved
by
the
United
States
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
(SEC).

Ethereum
Spot
ETF
Pessimism
Prevails

Eric
Balchunas’
insights
came
in
response
to
the
Chief
Executive
Officer
(CEO)
of
Fizen
Leo
Vu’s
post
regarding
Grayscale’s
CEO
Michael
Sonneshein’s
optimism
toward
approval
of


Ethereum
spot
ETFs.
According
to
Michael,
he
is
very
confident
that
the
SEC
will
grant
the
company’s
request
to
convert
its
Ethereum
trust
into
a
spot
ETF.

Responding
to
the
post,
Balchunas
expressed
his
displeasure
with
the
CEO’s
claims,
highlighting
his
disagreement
and
Bloomberg’s
constant
pessimism
toward
the
products.
While
Balchunas
believes
that
the
funds
might
be
authorized
in
the
foreseeable
future,
he
thinks
it
will
not
happen
within
a
year.
However,
the
election
in
November
and
what
Grayscale
says
about
denial
are
significant
factors
that
could
trigger
a
shift
in
the
forecast.

Balchunas
further
noted
that
Sonneshein
mentioned
that
Grayscale
decided
to
withdraw
its
ETH
futures
ETF
filed
under
the
Securities
Act
of
1933
because
it
wanted
to
concentrate
more
on
its
Spot
ETF.
Meanwhile,
the
major
purpose
of
filing
the
ETH
futures
under
the
1933
Act,
as
opposed
to
the
1940
Act,
was
to
create
a
legal
opening.

The
expert
thinks
a
potential
reason
why
Grayscale
made
the
move
might
be
because
they
do
not
want
to
pay
the
whole
cost
once
more
to
give
Blackrock
a
massive
ETF
progress,
as
seen
following
the
approval
of
the


Bitcoin
Spot
ETFs

while
taking
a
lot
of
crap
from
people
due
to
unlock
outflows.

Shared
View
On
Grayscale’s
ETF
Withdrawal

Balchunas’
insights
have
caused
quite
a
stir
in
the
crypto
community.
Scott
Johnsson,
a
finance
lawyer
and
author,
has
expressed
his
agreement
with
Bloomberg’s
analyst
overview.

Johnsson
may
be
in
line
with
Balchunas’s
perspective
on
why


Grayscale

withdrew
its
Ethereum
futures;
however,
he
believes
by
taking
such
action,
the
firm
displayed
its
true
intentions.
“Can
I
blame
them?
I
don’t
know,
but
don’t
piss
on
my
leg
and
tell
me
it’s
raining,”
he
added.

He
further
stated
that
without
pulling
ETHE
itself,
Grayscale
could
not
claim
to
be
trying
to
convert
ETHE
while
simultaneously
engaging
in
the
single
most
significant
action
to
obstruct
that
objective.

Thus,


Balchunas

concurred
with
Johnsson
saying
that
the
part
where
he
mentioned
Grayscale
taking
a
bunch
of
crap
from
people
was
due
to
high
cost,
which
the
company
is
to
blame.
“I’m
not
letting
them
off
the
hook
for
what
they
said
re
conversion
but
rather
trying
to
get
others
to
see
it
from
their
perspective/self-interest.
When
you
do
everything
starts
to
make
sense,”
he
added.

It
is
worth
noting
that
the
approval
odds
for
Ethereum
spot
ETFs
today
now


stand

at
merely
9%,
indicating
a
nearly
90%
drop
since
the
first
filings
were
made.

Featured
image
from
iStock,
chart
from
Tradingview.com