SEC Will Likely Approve Spot Ether ETF S-1 Registration Statements This Summer, Gensler Says

During a hearing with the Senate Banking Committee, US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler proposed that the regulator could give final approvals for listing and trading shares of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) within three months.

Gensler shared this timeline while discussing U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2025 budget requests for the SEC. He mentioned that he expects the commission to approve S-1 registration statements for asset managers “sometime over the course of this summer.”

On May 23, the SEC already approved 19b-4 filings from eight companies, but these applications still require S-1 approvals before the ETFs can be traded on U.S. exchanges.

During the hearing, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty questioned Gensler about why the commission hasn’t fully approved Ether ETFs, suggesting that Gensler is not prioritizing creating a positive regulatory framework for the crypto industry.

While CFTC Chair Rostin Behmam responded to Senator Hagerty’s comment by stating that Ether is a commodity, Gensler did not give a direct answer and instead shifted the focus to Ether ETFs.