Last Updated on November 10, 2023 by Bitfinsider

On 10 Nov Thursday afternoon, BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, affirmed its development of a spot ether ETF in a 19b-4 filing.

This filing for the proposed ETF known as the iShares Ethereum Trust was made public by Nasdaq hours after BlackRock filed to register an entity in Delaware. The asset manager, whose interest in cryptocurrencies has grown in recent months, is presently awaiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s judgment on an application for a spot bitcoin ETF.

The filing indicates that Coinbase Custody Trust Company would serve as the custodian for the proposed ether ETF. The CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, New York Variant, will be utilized.

Nasdaq stated in the filing, “The investment objective of the Trust is to generally reflect the performance of the price of ether.” In response to the news of the Delaware entity, Ether rose 9.9% to $2,066 at 4:43 p.m. ET earlier in the day, as reported by CoinGecko.

Grayscale, Ark Invest, ProShares, and Valkyrie, among other asset managers, have submitted applications for spot ether ETFs. Approval could take months, and the SEC has on multiple occasions postponed applications for proposed spot bitcoin funds.

The Nasdaq’s filing referenced Grayscale Investments’ recent victory in which three judges ruled that the SEC must reassess the firm’s proposal for a spot bitcoin ETF. The filing also addressed the SEC’s differential treatment of spot and futures ETFs, which had generated industry optimism regarding the eventual introduction of a spot bitcoin product. The SEC’s approval of ether ETFs based on futures should pave the way for spot ether products, Nasdaq wrote in a filing on Thursday.

“Given that the Commission has approved ETFs that offer exposure to ETH futures, which themselves are priced based on the underlying spot ETH market, the Sponsor believes that the Commission must also approve ETPs that offer exposure to spot ETH, like the Trust,” according to the regulatory filing.