When can investors buy Ethereum ETFs? Here are four clues

US spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds are almost here.

While the official launch date isn’t yet set by the Securities and Exchange Commission, options traders, bettors and analysts offer clues suggesting that they may begin to trade over the next two weeks.

“The general market consensus is that these ETFs will be launched sooner rather than later,” Jamie Sly, communications manager at crypto data firm CCData, recently told DL News.

That’s huge for the crypto community.

Ethereum surged 35% to $3,900 in May after the regulator green-lit the first stage of the applications.

Market watchers hope the upswing was just the start of a bigger wave.

The bet is that the final approval will enable the cryptocurrency to break its $4,800 all-time high from 2021 — replicating the success of the spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in January.

SEC’s Gary Gensler

SEC Chair Gary Gensler delivered the first clue during a Congressional hearing last week.

“I would envision sometime over the course of this summer,” he said.

Prospective issuers are working through the final step of the application process.

“That’s working smoothly,” Gensler said.

Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas

Following Gensler’s comments, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas estimated spot Ethereum ETFs will launch by July 2.

“Decent chance they work to declare them effective the next week and get it off their plate before holiday weekend,” Balchunas tweeted, referring to US Independence Day on July 4

Bettors

Bettors are also becoming more bullish.

On betting platform Polymarket, odds that the ETFs will begin trading on July 4 have jumped from 28% last week to 76%.

Elsewhere, JPMorgan analysts suggest that spot Ethereum ETFs will start to trade around July and August ahead of the US election as crypto becomes a political issue.

Traders

Traders have poured nearly $240 million into bets that Ethereum will reach an all-time high of $5,000 before the June 28 expiry.

“This positioning is being driven by traders front-running the launch of spot ETH ETFs,” Jake Ostrovskis, OTC Trader at Wintermute, recently told DL News.

Crypto market movers

• Bitcoin is down 2.1% over the past 24 hours to $65,270.
• Ethereum is down 2.5% to $3,500.

What we’re reading

• I returned to Decentraland to chat with a friendly prawn, hit a McDonald’s, and glimpse the metaverse’s future — DL News
• Bernstein Predicts Bitcoin (BTC) To Reach $1 Million By 2033 — Milk Road
• CRV Sitting on Exchanges Reaches an All-Time High as CRV Price Hits All-Time Low — Unchained
• Convex Finance Token Surges 100% as veCRV’s Weekly Inflows Skyrocket — Milk Road
• President Bukele proposes Bitcoin bank for El Salvador two weeks after starting second term — DL News

Eric Johansson is DL News’ News Editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com.