- Volatility Shares plans to have its Ether Futures ETF (ETHU) open to investors on October 12.
- The company listed its 2x Bitcoin-linked ETF (BITX) in July.
While all eyes remain on the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with regard to the several spot Bitcoin ETF applications before it, market experts say the first Ethereum futures exchange-traded fund in the US is an equally massive development.
First ETH Futures ETF for US market
Volatility Shares, one of the leading ETF providers in the market, has indicated plans to list its Ether Strategy ETF on October 12, 2023. The product will trade under the ticker ETHU, offering the company’s first Ether-linked ETF and come a few months after Volatility Shares’ 2x Bitcoin-linked ETF (BITX) that launched in July.
Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, says Volatility Shares’s positioning for the debut of the Ether ETF could see it beat rivals amid the race to be first to market with the highly anticipated product.
Even though the SEC hasn’t pronounced itself on ETHU, Balchunas notes that the regulator “looks to be ok” with the proposal as there hasn’t been any withdrawal. Also notable is the application date, which with the 75-day approval window, means the company is likely to be first to the market on October 12.
Nonetheless, the SEC may choose to group the filings and Volatility Shares are probably “just pushing the envelope” as they did with their BITX offering.
Well, there’s been no withdrawals so SEC looks to be ok with them, but re the date, he did file first so he would normally go out first. but SEC may want to group them, he’s prob just pushing the envolope like he did w BITX
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) August 15, 2023
Stuart Barton, the CIO of Volatility Shares has indicated that the company is looking to have ETHU available to investors before they shift focus to the increasingly demanded-for spot ETF market.
The SEC has notably not approved any spot crypto ETF for the US, and the next big decision after a recent delay for the Ark spot Bitcoin ETF, will be on Grayscale. With the 160-day window up on Tuesday, the expectation is that this decision comes on Friday morning.
