UNI, LDO soar as analysts anticipate Ether ETF approval

Ethereum (ETH) has seen an incredible price surge in the past 24 hours as the market reacts to news around a potential Ethereum ETF approval.

The US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) kicked off this optimism when it asked for accelerated filings of 19b-4s by issuers.

UNI, LDO tokens rally on Ether ETF news

Ethereum price exploded more than 18% to above $3,700, buoying Layer 1, other smart contract platforms and L2 tokens.

As the top altcoin surged to its intraday high of $3,710, the Uniswap (UNI) and Lido DAO (LDO) tokens took cue to race to their highest levels since April 12.

LDO and UNI tokens soared 32% and 19% respectively to trade at highs of $2.35 and $9.47 on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) rose to above $71k, with spot Bitcoin ETFs recording 24-hour inflows of $241 million on May 20 to bolster sentiment.

Standard Chartered on potential ETH price surge to $8k

With the SEC doing a 180 on Ethereum spot ETFs with a request for accelerated filings, the market is upbeat about imminent approval.

Bloomberg analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart are now predicting a higher chance of 75% for approval.

Balchunas shared his thoughts following SEC’s communication with spot ETH ETF issuers on May 20.

For anyone wondering why our odds were low up until yesterday, see below. This was a shock, a "holy sht" moment yesterday even for ppl inside the process. That said, props to @JSeyff for convincing me to stick with a 25% floor (as I wanted to go lower that's how deafening the… https://t.co/d9Xjt3nurN

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) May 21, 2024

Meanwhile, Geoff Kendrick, the head of FX research and digital assets at Standard Chartered, says an Ether ETF approval could be as early as this week. He believes the chance of this happening has risen to 80-90% since SEC’s move on Monday.

According to Kendrick, approval for the spot ETH ETF could bring $15 billion to $45 billion in inflows to the market in the next 12 months. 

This outlook suggests a potential price run that could put ETH at $8,000 by the end of the year, the analyst noted.

Kendrick also reiterated Standard Chartered Bank’s forecast for BTC.

According to them, Bitcoin price could ride the ETF catalyst to reach $150,000 by end of 2024. The analyst shared the latest forecast for ETH and BTC in a note to The Block on Tuesday.

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