Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest and cryptocurrency investment firm 21Shares are seeking regulatory approval to set up an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that directly holds ether, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday.
This is the first attempt at a U.S.-listed fund that invests directly in ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
In an effort to boost the cryptocurrency industry, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia passed a landmark ruling last month that the SEC erred in rejecting an application by crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments to list an ETF that tracks bitcoin prices.
The case has been closely watched by the cryptocurrency and asset management industries, which for years have tried to persuade the SEC to approve a spot bitcoin ETF.
Cboe Global Markets submitted a proposal to the US SEC earlier this year to list and trade shares of Ark Invest and 21Shares’ spot bitcoin ETF on the Cboe BZX exchange. However, the SEC delayed a decision on whether to approve it.
Regulators have rejected dozens of bitcoin spot ETF applications in recent years, citing insufficient trading oversight that could expose the underlying spot market to fraud and manipulation.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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