-The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has given preliminary approval to at least three of the eight asset managers hoping to launch exchange-traded funds tied to the spot price of ether to begin trading next Tuesday, three industry sources said.
January's launch of spot ETFs tracking the price of bitcoin was the culmination of a decade-long tussle with the SEC, which had rejected the products due to market manipulation concerns. The agency was forced to approve the ETFs, warning that the products were highly risky, after losing a court challenge brought by digital asset manager Grayscale Investments.
Issuers began filing for the ether ETFs in September. Executives initially had low hopes that the SEC would greenlight the products after discouraging meetings with officials.