Fidelity Submits Amended S-1 Application for Spot Ether ETF to SEC

Fidelity has recently submitted an amended S-1 application to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF). This updated filing clarifies that the ETF’s underlying Ether tokens will not be staked. S-1 filings are a requirement by the SEC for the registration of publicly traded securities in the U.S.

This amendment comes amidst reports suggesting that the SEC has reconsidered its stance on spot Ether ETFs, possibly influenced by political pressure. Consequently, the SEC has asked ETF issuers to update their 19b-4 filings.

The next critical date is May 23, which is the deadline for the SEC’s decision on VanEck’s Ether ETF proposal. Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, has raised the likelihood of approval from 25% to 75% for the 19b-4 form.

However, approval of the 19b-4 form is not the final step. According to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, issuers will also need their S-1 filings approved. In a May 20th post on X, Seyffart stated:

“We also need S-1 approvals. It could be weeks to months before we see S-1 approvals and thus a live ETH ETF… That said, if we’re correct and we see these theoretical approvals later this week, it should mean that S-1 approvals are a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’…”

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