- Franklin Templeton’s Form 19b-4 filing indicates significant progress in the process.
- Possible approval of the spot Ethereum ETF by the SEC may be closer than expected.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has filed 19b-4 with the U.S. SEC on behalf of Franklin Templeton for its spot Ethereum ETF.
Franklin Templeton One Step Closer in the Spot Ethereum ETF Race
Typically, a 19b-4 is a form used to propose a rule change, documentation that is required when an exchange intends to list a new spot ETF product, in this case, Ethereum .
Aside from containing details of the proposed rule change, Form 19b-4 also includes clear information about the potential impact of the rule change. It is filed with the SEC by the national securities exchange.
More than a week ago, Franklin Templeton indicated its interest in offering a spot Ethereum ETF by filing a report with the U.S. SEC. This came after major investment asset management firms such as BlackRock and Ark Invest filed similar documents with the securities regulator .
Franklin Templeton hoped to offer an alternative for investing in ETH to simplify the process of buying, holding and trading digital assets on multiple platforms.
This move even led to a spike in Ethereum’s price, opening the door to a possible $3,500 rally at the time. While the SEC has shown no intention of approving the offering, filing a Form 19b-4 is an indication of progress.
How close is the U.S. SEC to Approving the Spot ETH ETF?
As with the Bitcoin spot ETFs, filings and amendments from some of the issuers were made just before the SEC gave its approval to the offering in early January.
Therefore, the green light for the spot Ethereum ETF may be closer than expected. The crypto community believes the odds of the SEC approving the spot Ethereum ETF by May 23 exceed 60% according to projections by Bloomberg ETF analysts.
So far, the SEC has delayed its decision onGrayscale’s Ethereum ETF application and BlackRock’s Ethereum ETF application. Even the decision on Fidelity Investments‘ spot Ethereum ETF was postponed to March 4 by the SEC. Compared to many of these potential spot Ethereum ETF issuers, Franklin Templeton appears to be the only applicant to have taken this step so far.
In the long run, this may give the asset manager an edge over its competitors in terms of approval. It could even be as good as a first-mover advantage, although in the case of Bitcoin spot ETFs, the regulator avoided this by approving all applications at the same time.
