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Supporters of the Spot ethereum ETF scored a victory during a Senate hearing, as SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said applications were moving forward.
Speaking before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler hinted that a full regulatory approval for Ether (eth) spot ETFs could arrive at the end of September.
Gensler said in the budget hearing on June 13 that the final batch of filings, known as the S-1 or securities filing, went up for staff review. The commission already approved proposed rule changes for listing spot eth ETFs, also called 19b-4, last month.
Although the agency's top official confirmed that ethereum ETFs will likely begin trading soon, Gensler's vague stance on the status of Ether assets continued. The SEC chair declined to categorically say whether the largest native decentralized finance token is a commodity or a security.
Gensler's counterpart on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Rostin Behnam, thinks otherwise. “Yes,” Behnam responded when asked if Ether should be classified as a commodity.
While experts noted that issuers submitted spot offerings of eth ETFs without collateral, it is still unclear how US regulators and policymakers will officially address the asset.
However, the removal of all staking language from the apps suggests that ethereum's proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism is likely under SEC scrutiny.
The brokerage launched multiple enforcement actions and sent Wells notices to adjacent ethereum providers like Consensys and Uniswap, further solidifying Gensler's opinion on the matter. Still, considering the political changes of recent months, research into the underlying technology of Ether may also be stalled.
