After all the rush for spot Bitcoin ETFs, some of the top financial houses are now lining up for bringing the Ethereum futures ETFs to the US market. In the recent development, Volatility Shares, a pioneer in the ETF space. has shown its intentions to bring the Ether Strategy ETF to the market on October 12, 2023. If things go as per the plan then this could be the first Ether Futures ETF in the US market.
The Volatility Shares Ethereum Futures ETFs will be cash-settled contracts traded on the CBOE exchange. Note that this ETF product avoids a direct investment in Ethereum. The SEC filing submitted by Volatility Shares reads: “The Fund is an exchange-traded fund that seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing its assets principally in cash-settled contracts referencing Ether… The Fund does not invest directly in Ether”. Commenting on the development, Stuart Barton, the CIO of Volatility Shares, said:
Volatility Shares successfully launched the first 2x Bitcoin-linked ETF (BITX) in July and believes that ETHU is the next logical step before turning our forces to spot markets.
Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that this ETF application has a higher chance of approval by the US SEC. “Well, there’s been no withdrawals so SEC looks to be okay with them … he’s probably just pushing the envelope like he did w BITX,” he noted.
Similar to the spot bitcoin ETF applications, top financial institutions led by Volatility shares joined the race applying for the Ethereum Futures ETFs. Companies such as Bitwise, Valkyrie, VanEck, Roubhill, ProShares, and Grayscale have submitted applications to the US SEC for approval of their Ether Futures ETFs.
ProShares and Bitwise have submitted a total of six applications to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for ETFs centered around Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Among ProShares’ applications is one for the Bitcoin & Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF, tracking the Bitcoin & Ether Equal Weight Index. ProShares also filed four applications for Ethereum-focused ETFs during this period.
Bitwise, on the other hand, submitted applications for the Bitcoin and Ether Market Cap Weight Strategy ETF and the Bitcoin and Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF. Bitwise’s applications include three ETFs based on Ethereum as well.
Bloomberg ETF analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas noted that there’s a greater likelihood of Ethereum futures ETFs coming to the market even before the spot Bitcoin ETF.
According to Bloomberg analysts, the chances of the US SEC approving a spot Bitcoin ETF this year have risen from 50% to 65% in recent weeks. The odds of an Ethereum ETF approval have reached 75%, but Balchuna is even more optimistic, predicting a 95% chance for approval of Ether futures.
We are curr at 65% odds for spot approval by EOY and 75% for Ether futures, altho tbh I’m more like 95% on Ether futures. James is not quite as sure tho. On spot we totally aligned tho.
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) August 3, 2023
