SEC Reportedly Leaning Toward Spot Ether ETF Approval, VanEck Confirms Regulator Provided Comments

In a surprising last-minute twist to the onerous journey of spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) toward approval, the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) has informed exchanges that it will likely approve the new funds, a new report revealed.

The Wall Street regulator's staff Monday told exchanges seeking to sell and trade the financial products that it was leaning toward an approval, Barron's reported Tuesday, citing anonymous people familiar with the matter.

The report further added that the regulatory agency provided its comments on the filings of applicants. If the issues raised by the regulator are resolved in time, approval announcements could be made as early as this week, as per the report.

As previously reported, the cryptocurrency industry has been abuzz since Monday amid speculations that there has been progress in discussions between the SEC and applying issuers regarding spot ETH ETFs.

Bloomberg analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart have since hiked their expectancy of approval from 25% to 75%. Balchunas particularly mentioned in his reasoning for optimism that the funds' approval has become "increasingly political."

Several applicants expressed pessimism last month over the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs, citing discouraging outcomes from meetings held with SEC staff who reportedly did not provide comments and the talks largely one-sided.

The SEC has a deadline for approving or rejecting investment management firm VanEck's application on Thursday. The financial company Tuesday night wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that "the SEC comments are coming in," seemingly confirming Monday reports that the regulator asked exchanges to update their 19b-4 filings. A day earlier, the company said it had "no sleep," further fueling speculations that the SEC may have been in discussion with the company that will first hear a decision on its application this week.

Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, passed $3,000 Monday and jumped to $3,600 to close the trading day. The digital asset, which is the world's second-largest behind Bitcoin, witnessed a gradual rise, passing $3,700 Tuesday.

Meanwhile, crypto enthusiast Toby Cunningham said Tuesday that some Bitcoin maximalists were "pissed that there 'might' be a spot $ETH #ETF," calling out the said maximalists for hating on the open-source digital currency "just because it isn't Bitcoin." A Bitcoin advocate responded to Cunningham's post, saying the emergence of spot Ether ETFs "humbled" a lot of BTC advocates and maximalists.

Bitcoin remains king in terms of market capitalization, trading at $70,000 Tuesday. On the other hand, Ether has made significant strides in recent years, and with a possible spot ETH ETF approval, interest in the digital coin may surge.