BlackRock and Nasdaq made a transfer at this time so as to add choices to the asset supervisor’s spot Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) iShares Ethereum Belief (ETHA), according to a submitting with the US Securities and Change Fee (SEC).
In accordance with the submitting:
“In particular, the Exchange believes that the proposal to list and trade options on the Trust will remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market and a national market system and, in general, protect investors because offering options on the Trust will provide investors with a greater opportunity to realize the benefits of utilizing options on an ETF based on spot ether, including cost efficiencies and increased hedging strategies.”
Moreover, Nasdaq talked about that it already listed choices on different commodity ETFs structured as trusts, mentioning BlackRock merchandise as examples, such because the iShares COMEX Gold Belief and the iShares Silver Belief.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart shared on X (previously Twitter) that the SEC has 21 days to supply feedback on the matter. However, he mentioned the ultimate deadline for a regulator determination is “likely to be around” April 9, 2025.
Notably, the SEC isn’t the one regulator that should approve this joint transfer by Nasdaq and BlackRock. As Seyffart highlighted, the Workplace of the Comptroller of the Forex (OCC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Fee (CFTC) additionally must approve the requirement.
ETHA’s rising dominance
BlackRock’s Ethereum ETF has been on a crescent motion in inflows. For the reason that launch of the spot Ethereum ETFs within the US on July 23, ETHA dominance has tripled from 3% to 9%. In accordance with DefiLlama, ETHA’s belongings underneath administration (AUM) sit at over $521 million.
Nonetheless, Grayscale’s belief transformed into ETF, ETHE, nonetheless holds a big lead over the opposite funds. ETHE’s AUM is $4.77 billion, almost 9 instances the scale of ETHA.
However, the identical motion occurred after the launch of the spot Bitcoin ETFs within the US, ending up with BlackRock’s IBIT steadily rising and taking the lead from Grayscale’s GBTC.