Bloomberg analyst calls July 18 ‘best guess’ for ETH ETF launch amidst S-1 amendments

Spot Ethereum (ETH) ETF applicants amended their registration statements as Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas predicted a launch date.

On July 8, Balchunas said his “best guess” for the fund’s launch is July 18 but declined to make an over/under prediction as SEC plans remain unclear.

Balchunas described the changes in the latest amendments as minimal. He commented on two of the earliest filings:

“Nothing to see here.”

Balchunas said the SEC had asked applicants to submit their applications by today but did not require applicants to declare fees. He described the next steps toward approval by stating:

“[The SEC] will give guidance back to issuers soon along with the game plan. Then the docs come will come back with fees (and every other blank) filled it and then it’s Go time.”

The latest S-1 and S-3 amendments concern asset managers’ ability to issue ETFs, distinct from the previously approved 19b-4 filings that allow exchanges to list and trade the funds upon launch.

Filings add waiver and seed info

Six asset managers — BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, 21Shares, Franklin Templeton, and VanEck — submitted amendments today. Bitwise filed its amendment on July 3.

Franklin Templeton added seed investment details, stating that seed capital investor Franklin Resources Inc. purchased 4,000 shares at $25 per share for total proceeds of $100,000 to the fund.

VanEck said its trust gained 2,929 ETH from the seed creation basket sale proceeds, while BlackRock said its trust had purchased 3,031 ETH with the proceeds. In earlier filings, VanEck and BlackRock reported initial seed capital investments of $100,000 and $10 million, respectively.

VanEck added a waiver, stating that it intends to waive sponsor fees for the first $1.5 billion over one year following an earlier announcement. Bitwise introduced a six-month, $500 million waiver. Franklin Templeton’s amendment maintained the six-month, $10 billion waiver in its past filing.

The applicants did not add new sponsor fees.

In an adjacent development, VanEck announced that Cboe submitted a 19b-4 proposed rule change to list and trade its spot Solana (SOL) ETF. The update does not impact the company’s Solana S-1 registration, which it submitted on June 27.

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