VanEck Files for Ethereum Futures ETF in US

Investment firm VanEck has filed for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on Ethereum futures with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the filing, VanEck’s fund will invest in ETH futures contracts, “pooled investment vehicles and exchange-traded products that provide exposure to ETH” while not directly investing in Ethereum or any other digital assets.

VanEck has already proposed an Ethereum ETF that would invest directly in the cryptocurrency, as have fellow hopefuls WisdomTree and Kryptoin.

But to date, the SEC has yet to approve any ETF that intends to invest directly in cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Bitcoin.

VanEck’s long road to a crypto ETF

Indeed, VanEck’s own application for a Bitcoin ETF has been repeatedly delayed by the SEC. The firm first proposed a Bitcoin ETF in 2018 before withdrawing that application in September 2019.

VanEck’s most recent attempt at a Bitcoin ETF came in December 2020, joining a number of firms that filed applications around the transition period for the incoming Biden administration.

But their hopes that Biden’s new SEC chair Gary Gensler would be more open to crypto investment products (he once taught a blockchain course at MIT) appear to have been roundly dashed.

Gensler has continued the cautious approach taken by his predecessors, opining that he’d only be open to approving a Bitcoin ETF under strict rules and not necessarily one that provides direct Bitcoin exposure. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum earlier this month, Gensler said that he “particularly looked forward to” the SEC’s review of “ETFs limited to these CME-traded Bitcoin futures.”

VanEck’s Ethereum futures ETF would be the first in the U.S., though Canada has already approved a trio of Ethereum ETFs from Purpose Investments, Evolve ETFs, and CI Global Asset Management.

19 August 2021 09:56