By Coinrule
Each day, Coinrule will run through the state of the digital assets market for Blockbeat, your home for news, analysis, opinion and commentary on blockchain and digital assets.
Back in May, the Securities and Exchanges Commission’s (SEC) approval for the filings of the Ethereum ETFs hit the market by surprise. One last technicality, a so-called S-1 form, still needs to get SEC approval before actual ETF trading can start. One of the big questions of the last weeks has been if the agency will find a way to delay this process.
The answer to this has now arrived. SEC Chair Gary Gensler told a US Senate subcommittee that spot Ether ETFs were on track to obtain their S-1 approval by the “end of summer.” Trading could then start almost immediately afterwards. In that session, Gensler nonetheless continued to play hard-ball with the crypto industry. He continued an ongoing conflict with the Commodities regulator CFTC. The main question remains whether ETH should be regulated as a commodity or a security. According to Gensler, the CFTC is not currently well-prepared to regulate the crypto industry. Gensler further criticised the industry for “thumbing its nose” at the rules. Needless to say, industry leaders like Coinbase, Consensys and Uniswap have been asking for those rules to be clearly laid out by the SEC for years with no avail.
In other news, the Biden campaign is reportedly in discussions with crypto leaders to start accepting crypto donations through Coinbase Commerce. This would follow a similar step by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. It would be an additional sign of the improving sentiment towards the industry in Washington. Biden’s administration had mostly shut the door on crypto for the duration of the term. Senator Warren in particular has spent years fighting for tougher rules. The turnaround, so close to the upcoming election, seems wondrous. Many in the industry question the motives and also the longevity of this development. But no doubt, together with the upcoming ETH ETF, this will be welcome news.
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