Securities and Exchange Commission staff told exchanges on Monday the agency is "leaning" towards approving spot ether ETFs, according to a report in Barron's, which cited anonymous sources.
"What changed is that SEC staff on Monday told exchanges where the products would list that it is leaning toward approving them, according to people familiar with the matter," according to Barron's. "The agency provided comments on the applications that, if resolved in time, could result in approvals as soon as this week."
On Monday, news that the SEC had perhaps changed its tune regarding spot ether ETFs shook the world of crypto and caused the price of ETH to surge. Bloomberg ETF analysts were the first to suggest that the U.S. government might do an about-face on the Ethereum-based products, given shifting political winds.
The first deadline for a slew of proposed spot ether ETFs is May 23, with VanEck's proposal up first.
"Over the next few months, it has similar deadlines for filings by exchanges on behalf of firms including Ark Invest, 21Shares, Grayscale Investments, Fidelity, BlackRock, and Franklin Resources," Barron's also reported.
Correction (May 21, 17:30 UTC): This story originally said cryptocurrency exchanges were informed. It has been corrected to note that it was the exchanges on which the ETFs would possibly trade.