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Earlier in the day, BlackRock registered its “iShares Ethereum Trust” in Delaware, the first hint that a filing for a spot Ether ETF was imminent.

Blackrock’s plans for a spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) have now been confirmed, per a 19b-4 form filing submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 9.

Nasdaq filed the 19b-4 form with the securities regulator on behalf of the $9-trillion asset management firm for a proposed ETF called the “iShares Ethereum Trust.”

The move signals BlackRock’s intention to expand beyond Bitcoin (BTC) with its ETF aspirations.

Nasdaq’s 19b-4 filing to the SEC for BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust. Source: Nasdaq

Earlier on Nov. 9, it emerged that BlackRock registered the corporate entity iShares Ethereum Trust in Delaware, the first hint that a spot Ether ETF filing could be imminent.

BlackRock and other financial firms have expressed interest in cryptocurrency-backed ETFs over the last few months.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart noted that there are at least five firms in the running to win the SEC’s approval for a spot Ether ETF.

Related: Ethereum futures ETFs garner lukewarm reception on first day of trading

Among them are VanEck, ARK 21Shares, Invesco, Grayscale and Hashdex.

ETH spiked 8.9% to $2,080 on the news that BlackRock was moving forward its plans for an iShares Ethereum Trust and is up 10.1% over the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.

ETH’s change in price over the last 24 hours. Source: CoinGecko

The price surge has helped ETH claw back some market dominance against BTC, which has outperformed ETH in recent months.

ETH’s market dominance now sits at 17%, up 1.3% percentage points prior to the news.

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