Ethereum
Gensler says ‘stay tuned’ to US SEC’s ETH ETF decision
WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler declined Thursday to provide insight into his agency’s ether decision. (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but he advised observers to “stay tuned.”
Although he reiterated that the ETF court ruling had caused his agency to “pivot” in its thinking, when asked by CoinDesk on Thursday what the agency was preparing to do in response to specific inquiries about the very expected in cryptography. , he was largely opposed to it.
“I don’t have anything on that particular record,” Gensler said outside an event hosted by the Investment Company Institute in Washington.
“We do it in accordance with the law and the way the courts interpret the law, and that is what I am deeply committed to,” he said, after emphasizing on stage during the event that the agency had responded to the decision of the Washington Circuit Court of Appeals. rejecting the SEC’s approach to spot bitcoin (BTC) ETF earlier this year.
The SEC, after weeks of limited engagement, required exchanges supporting Spot Ether ETF applications to refile their Forms 19b-4 with universal language earlier this week. These forms were submitted to the SEC on Tuesday, and the exchanges started publishing them online that evening. The SEC also appears to have begun engaging with potential issuers themselves, as companies like Fidelity and Grayscale filed updated S-1 forms this week. The SEC is expected to make a final decision on at least one spot ether ETF application by the end of the day Thursday.
Based on these forms, it appears that the SEC is not comfortable with the idea that Ether ETF issuers can stake any asset.
Industry players previously told CoinDesk that while the SEC’s actions this week do not guarantee approval of ETFs, they make approval of ETFs more likely.
“[The] DC Circuit took a different view, and we took that into consideration and pivoted,” Gensler said Thursday.
Gensler also reiterated Thursday that his agency would continue to work on its opposition to the crypto bill that was passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
“We will continue to engage,” he said. “This is simply an area where token operators – without prejudging any of them – are not making the disclosures that investors could actually benefit from and that are required by law.”
“We have seen leaders in this field find themselves on the path to prison or extradition,” he added.
And when asked about Congress seeking to reverse his agency’s crypto accounting policyStaff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121), he argued that the agency viewed it as guidance at a time when bankrupt crypto firms had to treat customer assets the same as their own in the event of a bankruptcy.
“The crypto that these companies said they took into custody actually because it is part of the bankruptcy estate,” Gensler said. “This is what we addressed in 2022,” he added, believing that it was “a simple” accounting bulletin.