- Grayscale’s Dave LaValle recently claimed that an Ethereum spot ETF now stands a 50/50 chance of an SEC approval in May following Gary Gensler’s BTC approval last month.
- At a recent annual ETF conference, crypto took center stage, with executives from the world’s largest financial and investment firms all interested in a piece of the crypto pie.
As BlackRock and Fidelity have dominated the Bitcoin ETF inflows with billions of dollars between them, the significance of Grayscale and its role in making the ETFs a reality seems lost on many. However, it was the crypto asset manager that forced the SEC to rethink its denial, and according to one Grayscale executive, Gary Gensler could yet again hand crypto another major win with an Ethereum ETF approval in a few months.
At the recent Exchange ETF Conference in Miami Beach, Florida, industry leaders from BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Invesco and other ETF giants took to the stage to discuss the latest trends in the market. Unlike in all the previous editions, this year’s event had a new trending topic–cryptocurrency ETFs.
Dave LaValle, the Senior Managing Director and Global Head of ETFs at Grayscale, was among the speakers in a panel discussing the Bitcoin ETFs launched last month. He expressed his confidence that an Ethereum ETF would be next, saying there was a ’50/50′ chance that Gensler would approve one in May.
Dave LaValle, #Grayscale ETFs honcho, predicts a 50/50 shot for #SEC approval on #Ethereum ETF conversion to spot #ETH ETF in May!
Meanwhile, a #BitcoinETF rep reveals some advisors still can’t shout out #Bitcoin to clients!
https://t.co/RmszNv42cr pic.twitter.com/5EvDP0ESMI
— Marcel Knobloch aka Collin Brown (@CollinBrownXRP) February 21, 2024
The crypto ETF success came about because Grayscale took the SEC to court after the agency denied its application, accusing the regulator of “arbitrary and capricious” conduct. This legal battle inevitably arose during the panel, with the moderator asking LaValle if Grayscale would sue the SEC again if it denied its Ethereum ETF.
According to LaValle, the crypto asset manager can’t rule out this approach, but it would first “have to wait and see and look at the facts.”
Grayscale Confident Ethereum ETF is Coming
LaValle isn’t the only one confident that an Ethereum spot ETF is coming. Brock Pierce, the founder of the Bitcoin Foundation and one of the people behind the world’s largest stablecoin, Tether, also believes that Gensler will give the green light soon.
He told Fox Business:
I believe an Ethereum ETF should be in the works. The applications are there and with this precedent established, it’s only a matter of time before an Ethereum ETF would exist. It clearly has the market cap and there’s the demand, and I think retail investors would like the easy accessibility. The American people deserve easy access to the products they want to invest in.
But while the market guesses when the Ethereum spot ETF will debut, one thing is sure—crypto ETFs are the next big thing. As of Feb. 20, BlackRock’s BitcoinETF had attracted $5.4 billion, while Fidelity, in second place, had brought in $3.72 billion. Bitwise and Ark have also crossed the $1 billion threshold.
At the ETF Conference in Miami Beach, all the crypto panels were filled to the brim, with Galaxy Asset Management’s Steve Kurz best capturing it when he said:
I’d be surprised in the next year if the top 10 wirehouses are not involved in this. We will probably see institutional FOMO.
