Crypto lifted by ether’s biggest jump since 2022
CRYPTO prices have surged on signs of momentum toward US approval of exchange-traded funds investing directly in second-largest token Ether, a shift from a more downbeat outlook as recently as last week.
The market-moving speculation about spot-Ether ETFs is something of a redux of the investor enthusiasm that greeted comparable US Bitcoin funds, whose January listing spurred a rally in the biggest digital asset to a record high.
Ether rose almost 14 percent in US trading — the steepest advance since November 2022 — before adding to the gains in Asian hours to change hands at US$3 666 as of 9:33 a.m. in Singapore on Tuesday.
Bitcoin at one point climbed toward US$72 000, in sight of its mid-March alltime peak of nearly US$74 000.
The US Securities & Exchange Commission contacted at least one exchange and at least one potential spot-Ether ETF issuer to update related 19b-4 filings, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the matter is private.
That’s a sign that odds for SEC approval may be rising, one of the people said. The dialogue is an unexpected shift but a green light is by no means guaranteed, the person added. The 19b-4 filings are just some of the required paperwork. Issuers also need the regulator to sign off on S-1 registration statements before launching products. A decision on at least one spot-Ether ETF application is due by May 23.
An SEC spokesperson said the agency doesn’t comment on individual filings.
Social media is alive with speculation that “the SEC might be more likely to lean toward potential approval, and traders are now scrambling to put on positions since many had completely written off even the remote possibility of an approval,”said Chris Newhouse, an analyst at Cumberland Labs. — Bloomberg.