Ether jumps nearly 2% on the news of the BlackRock filing.

BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the world’s largest asset manager, has officially submitted a filing for a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The ETF, named iShares Ethereum Trust, aims to mirror the performance of the ether price, as detailed in the Form S-1 submitted by iShares to the SEC. This move follows BlackRock’s registration of the iShares Ethereum Trust entity with the Delaware Department of State Division of Corporations a week prior. The selection of Coinbase Custody Trust Company as the custodian and the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate from CF Benchmarks as the benchmark aligns with BlackRock’s choices for its proposed spot Bitcoin ETF. (The Block)

Notably, the filing for the spot Ethereum ETF comes after BlackRock’s earlier filing for the iShares Bitcoin Trust, currently under SEC review. The approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF could impact the market positively, with trading firms like Jane Street, Virtu Financial, and Jump Trading reportedly in talks to provide liquidity for BlackRock’s potential ETF.

In September, Grayscale Investments had filed with the SEC for a new Ether Futures-based ETF. However, the SEC has postponed its decision on the approval of this ETF to January 1, 2024. Grayscale’s move has been interpreted by Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart as akin to a “trojan horse” meant to corner the SEC into approving its spot Ether ETF.

“Watch [the SEC] try to either approve and argue why this is different from spot. Or Deny and argue why 1933 act products are meaningfully different from 1940 act products. Both are bad for SEC [in my opinion]. Genius move,” Seyffart said on X.

The price of ether surged around 2% in response to the news of the BlackRock filing and is trading around $2,054 at the time of writing.

Earlier this month, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink highlighted the market’s “pent-up interest in crypto,” emphasizing the impact of false reports on Bitcoin’s price rally at the time.

Related Story:  Grayscale Applies For Ethereum Futures ETF

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