Spot Ethereum ETF issuers still waiting on SEC for first round of S-1 comments: Sources

Prospective spot Ethereum ETF issuers are still waiting on the SEC to provide comments on their S-1 filings after they submitted first drafts on May 31, according to two sources. 

The issuers had been anticipating the SEC would provide comments on these drafts on June 7, according to one source based on conversations with the agency. Yet, at least two issuers have not received anything yet. One source said they now anticipate comments to come back this week.

This comes after SEC Chair Gary Gensler said on CNBC that the approvals of the S-1 forms would “take some time.”

It’s unclear exactly how long the process will take. One source previously told The Block that they expect the S-1 forms to go through at least two more rounds of draft filings before they are ready.

Preparing for Ethereum ETF launches

The S-1 forms are the second step in a two-step process toward making the spot Ethereum ETFs go live for trading. The first step was the approval of the 19b-4 forms, which happened on May 23.

The draft filings also reveal a few details. BlackRock is seeding its ETF with $10 million, while Franklin Templeton plans to start with a 0.19% fee.

When the spot Ethereum ETFs go live, a key question will be whether they can try to replicate the success of the spot Bitcoin ETFs. Bitfinex Head of Derivatives Jag Kooner estimates that they will bring in around 10-20% of the flows that have been going into spot Bitcoin ETFs.