Coinbase urges the SEC to classify ETH ETF shares as exchange-traded commodity-based shares

The exchange also committed to enter into an agreement with CME to prevent manipulation of the ETH spot market

11.03.2024 - 10:10

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3 min

What’s new? Representatives of the US crypto exchange Coinbase have held a meeting with officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to discuss the application of investment company Grayscale to launch a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on Ethereum. As a result of the meeting, Coinbase’s presentation on the new product was included in the application to the SEC. In the presentation, the exchange proposed that ETH ETF shares be categorized as exchange-traded commodity-based shares, similar to the already approved BTC ETFs.

Coinbase’s presentation

What else is known? The SEC’s staff from the Division of Trading and Markets and Grayscale lawyers from the Davis Polk firm attended the meeting. Coinbase representatives argued that the ETH spot market demonstrates resistance to fraud and manipulation. These aspects were also the commission’s main concerns during the review period for bitcoin fund launch applications, which were ultimately approved on January 10 of this year.

SEC postpones the deadline for BlackRock and Fidelity’s applications to launch spot ETH ETFs

The regulator sought public comment on the risks involved in launching such products

Coinbase said it would enter into a joint surveillance agreement with the CME stock exchange to prevent fraud and manipulation. A similar clause is contained in the filings of BTC ETF issuers; companies included it in their filings after the SEC rejected them due to incomplete information.

At the same time, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas questioned the success of this meeting. He specified that officials do not give feedback to ETH ETF issuers, which is not a good sign. A similar opinion is held by his colleague James Seyffart, who previously stated that the SEC will approve ETH ETFs in May with a 60% probability.

Source: Twitter.com

The SEC earlier postponed the deadline on BlackRock and Fidelity’s applications to launch ETH ETFs and sought public comment on the risks associated with the products. The companies are also issuers of spot BTC ETFs, which lead in trading volume and fund inflows.

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