Investment bank TD Cowen: Ethereum spot ETF approval paves the way for other crypto fund products, SEC attitude remains unchanged

After the Ethereum spot ETF 19B-4 filing was approved, investment bank TD Cowen believes that it is only a matter of time before other funds, including funds tracking a basket of cryptocurrencies, are approved, although the U.S. SEC's internal attitude towards crypto has not changed. Jaret Seiberg of TD Cowen's Washington research team wrote in a report that given the approval of the Bitcoin ETF earlier this year, the approval of the Ethereum ETF was inevitable, but the time was about 6 months earlier than expected. He expects that an ETF product containing "a basket of crypto tokens" may appear in the next year, which may include only Bitcoin and Ethereum, or it may include more currencies. However, this move does not mean that the SEC's overall stance on crypto has changed. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who is critical of crypto, issued a statement strongly opposing the crypto legislation "Financial Innovation and Technology Act of the 21st Century" (FIT 21), which may weaken the power of his agency. Gensler said that the failure, fraud and bankruptcy record of the crypto industry is not due to the lack of rules or unclear rules, but because many crypto industry participants do not follow the rules. Despite the potential setback for Gensler’s agency, TD Cowen expects the SEC to maintain a Democratic majority through 2026 and continue to bring cases against crypto trading platforms that trade tokens the SEC deems to be unregistered securities. (The Block)