Ethereum is inevitably the talk of the crypto town at the moment. The odds of regulators finally approving ETH ETFs has bolstered. According to Bloomberg ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart, the SEC might do a “180” flip and end up green-flagging applications on its table. They pointed out that this is “increasingly” becoming a “political issue.” From a slim chance of 25%, the Bloomberg analysts have now increased the likelihood of an approval to 75%.
The SEC has reportedly asked companies to update their 19b-4 filings for Ethereum ETFs on an accelerated basis. Fidelity was among the first institutions to make amends and update its filings. Even though this doesn’t guarantee an approval, it points towards the SEC wanting to close the crypto ETF books. That being said, it should also be kept in mind that issuers will also need their S-1 applications to get the stamp of approval before their underlying products start trading. Nate Geraci, the President of The ETF Store, pointed out that it is technically possible for the SEC to approve 19b-4s and then slow play S-1s .
Forecast contracts related to ETF approvals on Polymarket have also started seeing renewed traction. One of them - asking if an Ethereum ETF would be green-flagged by May 31 - shot in price from 10 cents to 61 cents, indicating a 61% chance that regulators would approve the launch by the end of the month.
Ethereum’s God Candle
On the heels of the said development, Ethereum’s price started printing successive green candles. In just a matter of a few hours, it rose by 21%, from $3,077 to $3,721. Similar levels were last seen in the first-half of April. At the current price, 90% of the holders are ‘in the money’ or are making profits, with the remaining 10% in a break-even position.
Ethereum’s market cap was hovering around $370 billion a few hours back. After the pump, it managed to claim $446 billion at its local peak. The $76 billion injection in Ethereum’s valuation over the past half-a-day is nearly as equal as the entire market cap of Solana [$81 billion]. In fact, Velo Data pointed out that this was the largest ever one-day gain registered by Ethereum.
Interestingly, on the macro front, ETH managed to climb up seven ranks. As illustrated below, it has already flipped two cemented companies in the $400 billion club: Mastercard and Louis Vuitton. In fact, Ethereum is now also worth more than P&G and Samsung.
Other bullish predictions have also started mounting up already. Standard Charted analyst Geoff Kendrick, for instance, expects the approval to trigger inflows ranging in the $15 billion to $45 billion bracket in the first twelve months. Furthermore, he sees the ETF pushing the price of ETH to $8,000 by the end of this year.
