The largest investment firm in the world is filing for a spot market Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) months after applying for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF.
In a new filing, BlackRock – which has over $8 trillion in assets under its management – is seeking the approval of the iShares Ethereum Trust, which would grant retail investors exposure to the second-largest crypto asset by market cap through traditional stock exchanges.
“The Trust seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of Ether. The Trust seeks to reflect such performance before payment of the Trust’s expenses and liabilities. The Shares are intended to constitute a simple means of making an investment similar to an investment in ether rather than by acquiring, holding and trading ether directly on a peer-to-peer or other basis or via a digital asset exchange.
The Shares have been designed to remove the obstacles represented by the complexities and operational burdens involved in a direct investment in ether, while at the same time having an intrinsic value that reflects, at any given time, the investment exposure to the price of ether owned by the Trust at such time, less the Trust’s expenses and liabilities.”
Last week, the investment giant registered an Ethereum Trust in Delaware, a move similar to the one the firm made when it initially registered its BTC trust.
In July, BlackRock filed its bid to create a spot market BTC ETF. At the time of its filing, the SEC had already rejected numerous attempts by other firms to create Bitcoin ETFs. However, the regulatory agency was known to approve futures BTC ETFs.
In August, digital assets manager Grayscale won a lawsuit against the SEC when a federal judge ruled that the regulatory body must reconsider its stance on approving Grayscale’s BTC ETF to remain consistent.
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