U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler said the regulator expects to approve the S-1 registration form for a spot Ethereum ETF “sometime this summer,” which will be the final step before these funds can be listed in the United States.
He confirmed that the ETFs would be able to launch by late summer, well ahead of the presidential election in November .
The regulator recently approved the relevant 19b-4 filings that the stock exchanges submitted in May. However, the S-1 registration forms for individual issuers are still pending approval.
Gensler said at a June 13 Senate hearing that “individual issuers are still going through the registration process and are progressing well.”
Sen. Bill Hagerty, D-Va., praised Gensler’s commitment to approving applications by the end of summer, adding: “We have to get this market right.”
Gensler's timeline is consistent with what industry experts have predicted in recent weeks .
Bloomberg ETF analysts believe that the approval of the S-1 filing could take weeks to months after the 19b-4 is approved. Similarly, other experts, including JPMorgan Chase, predict that the ETF will begin trading before the November election.
At this point, the launch of a spot Ethereum ETF in the U.S. is considered a done deal, despite the pending S-1 approval.
Additionally, many in the industry, including legal experts, now consider Ethereum to be a commodity, arguing that the SEC’s approval of Ethereum as a single-asset ETF product means it will be classified as a commodity.
However, when questioned by the Senate, Gensler did not clarify whether Ethereum is classified as a security or a commodity . He dodged the question without giving a clear answer, claiming that the agency only “partially approved” an Ethereum ETF.
Meanwhile, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission ( CFTC ) Chairman Rostin Behnam made it clear in the Senate that Ethereum is a commodity and should be regulated by the agency.
Gensler also touched on the SEC’s fiscal year 2025 budget request, highlighting the significant growth and change in the market, saying, “Our limited resources contrast starkly with the tremendous growth and change in the market.”
He added, “The SEC currently regulates approximately 40,000 entities, including more than 13,000 registered funds, 15,400 investment advisers, and 3,300 broker-dealers .”
Gensler expressed concern about a provision in the House Appropriations Committee’s fiscal 2025 appropriations bill for the agency that limits funding for enforcement actions related to digital asset transactions, with the exception of fraud or market manipulation.
He mentioned, “This will seriously undermine our efforts. While not all Crypto assets are securities, those that are securities have an obligation to disclose full, fair and complete information to the public.”
The SEC chairman stressed the agency’s critical role in maintaining market integrity and protecting investors . He also stressed the importance of adequate funding to keep pace with rapidly evolving markets and technological advances.
In closing, he told the Senate: “The SEC is the patrolman serving the investing public and issuers.”
