The US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has asked ETH ETF S-1 applicants for changes, returning their applications, which will push the launch date. They were asked to resubmit the forms by 8 July. However, industry experts believe it may not take too long. Many expected the ETFs to launch on US exchanges before 4 July.
Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas feels they will receive SEC approval by July end, allowing ETH ETF issuers to launch the products by mid to end of July. He posted his thoughts on X, “Unfort think we gonna have to push back our over/under till after holiday. Sounds like SEC took extra time to get back to ppl this wk (altho again very light tweaks) and from what I hear next wk is dead bc holiday = July 8th the process resumes and soon after that they’ll launch.”
Last month, Balchunas let his followers on X know that he expects the ETFs to come before the American Independence Day. In a post on 15 June, he mentioned, “We are moving up our over/under date for the launch of spot Ether ETF to July 2nd, hearing the Staff sent issuers comments on S-1s today, and they’re pretty light, nothing major, asking for them back in a week.”
Gary Gensler, SEC chair, previously mentioned that the ETFs will come “sometime over the course of this summer”, which could be anytime over the three months after he made the statement. He said that on 13 June. While ETH ETFs will witness imminent approval and issuance by September, many still feel it will occur this month, aligning with Balchunas’ predictions.
The forms the SEC returned to issuers require minimal changes and addressing, meaning the approval process may be at its culmination. It still depends on how quickly the SEC is willing to act on the approval. Unlike the 19b-4 applications, which came with a deadline, S-1 applications do not come with one.