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Spot Ethereum ETF: SEC Holds Off on VanEck’s Application Decision
SEC delays VanEck spot Ethereum ETF decision to May 23, amid rising scrutiny and market resilience, with Ethereum price showing strength.
SEC delays VanEck spot Ethereum ETF decision to May 23, amid rising scrutiny and market resilience, with Ethereum price showing strength.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced a delay in its decision regarding the approval of the VanEck spot Ethereum ETF. This move extends the timeline for a verdict until May 23, 2024. The delay comes on the back of a number of postponements relating to other Ethereum-based ETF applications, with those events suggesting a general regulatory hesitancy.
The recent disclosure of documents by the SEC revealed that the agency had decided to provide extra time for the evaluation of the spot Ethereum ETF proposal by VanEck. This extension is intended to enable the commission to give the proposed rule change a thorough look and resolve any concerns that may come up. SEC’s systematic style is clear evidence of its dedication to investor and market protection, especially in cryptocurrency investments.
The announcement came against a backdrop of rising regulatory scrutiny in the cryptocurrency space. Notably, the Ethereum Foundation, as reported by Coingape, has acknowledged receiving a confidential inquiry from an unidentified state authority. This development, together with the SEC’s delay, shows the complicated regulatory environment that digital assets continue to face.
The postponement by the SEC has significant implications for the cryptocurrency industry, particularly for firms aspiring to launch spot Ethereum ETFs. Financial giants such as Fidelity and BlackRock are among the financial institutions that have indicated that they would like to offer such products, which portrays a burgeoning institutional demand for direct access to Ethereum.
Nevertheless, the streak of postponements opened a period of cautiousness, and analysts even started to adjust the probability of the near-term approval. The SEC’s cautious stance is not isolated to Ethereum-based products. Similar delays have been observed with other cryptocurrency ETF proposals, suggesting a broader regulatory trend.
The investigation by the SEC into the Ethereum Foundation and its campaign to have the entity reclassified as security complicates the process of approval of spot Ethereum ETFs even more. This investigation into the activities of the foundation, particularly after Ethereum moved to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, is an illustration of the regulators’ continuous attempts to specify and control digital assets under current securities frameworks.
However, the market response to Ethereum has been rather strong despite these regulatory headwinds. Despite a range of regulatory instabilities and the probability of spot ETF approval challenges, the price of Ethereum has been bullish, trading at $3,395.93, a 2.47% surge from the intra-day low.
The entry price for this order is very attractive as some analysts believe that ONDO's reasonable price is in the range of 0.4-0.7 USD. With a significant investment beyond the expected scope, Lookonchain suspected the whale had an insider.
Someone created a new wallet 27 hours ago and withdrew 1,870.68 $ETH ($5.7M) from #Gemini .
Then he spent the 1,870 $ETH ($5.7M) to buy 6M $ONDO at an average price of $0.95 in the past 27 hours.
Does this guy know something that we don't? https://t.co/3ZQ6s6SnVM pic.twitter.com/G1udIF8Mhw
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 17, 2024
This transaction attracted the attention of the crypto community and ONDO, the native token of Ondo Finance, skyrocketed 11% immediately after the purchase.
However, ONDO has dropped after the latest bounce and is trading below the $1 threshold at the time of writing. However, ONDO is still increasing by more than 19% over the past week.
Crypto analyst Mags commented on the price movement, sharing analysis on the next price target for ONDO.
“If the price closes above 1 USD, the next target will be 1.4 USD and 2.7 USD or more.”
$ONDO keeps printing up +131%
$1.5 Incoming, Binance listing soon 👀 https://t.co/bF8lznNDOP pic.twitter.com/5v95S4aZvn
— Mags (@thescalpingpro) March 25, 2024
A whale created a new wallet on May 16 and withdrew 1,870.68 ETH (worth $5.7 million) from the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange to buy 6 million ONDO tokens at an average price of 0, 95 USD.
The entry price for this order is very attractive as some analysts believe that ONDO's reasonable price is in the range of 0.4-0.7 USD. With a significant investment beyond the expected scope, Lookonchain suspected the whale had an insider.
Someone created a new wallet 27 hours ago and withdrew 1,870.68 $ETH ($5.7M) from #Gemini .
Then he spent the 1,870 $ETH ($5.7M) to buy 6M $ONDO at an average price of $0.95 in the past 27 hours.
Does this guy know something that we don't? https://t.co/3ZQ6s6SnVM pic.twitter.com/G1udIF8Mhw
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 17, 2024
This transaction attracted the attention of the crypto community and ONDO, the native token of Ondo Finance, skyrocketed 11% immediately after the purchase.
However, ONDO has dropped after the latest bounce and is trading below the $1 threshold at the time of writing. However, ONDO is still increasing by more than 19% over the past week.
Crypto analyst Mags commented on the price movement, sharing analysis on the next price target for ONDO.
“If the price closes above 1 USD, the next target will be 1.4 USD and 2.7 USD or more.”
$ONDO keeps printing up +131%
$1.5 Incoming, Binance listing soon 👀 https://t.co/bF8lznNDOP pic.twitter.com/5v95S4aZvn
— Mags (@thescalpingpro) March 25, 2024
Fantom (FTM), a once famous layer-1 blockchain, is receiving attention again ahead of an important upgrade called Sonic.
On the evening of May 17, the Fantom Foundation posted an important governance proposal, announcing to the community a new project called Sonic Network (S). Sonic Network is a new layer-1 blockchain developed by Fantom on the new Sonic technology platform, replacing Fantom's old Opera version.
https://x.com/FantomFDN/status/1791517798205907116
Once the Sonic Network is deployed, FTM holders will be able to redeem tokens 1:1 for the Sonic network currency called S. Those who do not want to redeem can still continue to hold FTM. However, the Fantom Foundation encourages users to migrate to the new network as all the attention and development effort of the project will be transferred here.
The rest of the proposal retains the changes that were mentioned in the Sonic upgrade announcement at the beginning of the year.
Both Fantom's FTM and TVL token prices have increased more than 30% in the last 7 days, the clearest signal that money is being poured back into the project.
Specifically, while the FTM price increased from 0.64 USD to 0.84 USD, the value locked (TVL) of Fantom increased to 200 million USD on May 16, before decreasing to 129 million USD at the time of writing. This is the highest TVL level that Fantom has achieved since July 2023, when the Multichain hack occurred, causing heavy damage to the ecosystem.
