Landmark Ether ETF Approval Stands to Catapult Coin
After starting the week off running as speculation that the SEC’s approval of a series of spot ETF applications was imminent, Ethereum is poised to have its largest-ever gains following Thursday’s announcement that the approvals had indeed gone through. With that, ether has joined bitcoin in the realm of crypto coins with spot ETF accessibility – and will be potentially matching bitcoin’s tremendous ETF-based gains.
A research report from Bernstein notes that the price of bitcoin has gone up 75% since the approval of 11 spot bitcoin ETFs on January 10. Per Bernstein Analyst Gautam Chhugani, Ether is well-positioned to have a similar increase, with a value of $6,600 predicted in the near-term.
To illustrate how excited investors are to participate in the cryptocurrency market through the vehicle of spot ETFs, the bitcoin spot ETFs have been the fastest-growing in the history of all ETFs. Between January and March 31, BlackRock’s IBIT – the largest of the series during that time – accumulated a staggering $13.9 billion.
Bitcoin’s 75% gains since the spot ETFs opened are substantial, but some speculators don’t think the coin is anywhere near where it will be as investors continue to pump cash into ETFs. Estimates for the close of the year are anywhere from $120,000 to $300,000, most of which will be fueled by momentum from corporate and institutional investors entering the ETF market.
With the announcement two weeks ago from JP Morgan and Wells Fargo that the banks were engaged with bitcoin spot ETFs, buy-in has increased even further.
And even that is just the tip of the iceberg. Matt Hougan of Bitwise tweeted earlier this year that the investors who go in on ETFs control approximately $100 trillion globally. If those investors collectively moved 1% of their assets into a Bitcoin spot ETF, that would be a $1 trillion injection into the market.
Put simply, bitcoin spot ETFs are on fire. But is that unique to Bitcoin?
Looking back on the initial approval of gold spot ETFs in 2004, the value of the precious metal went from between $1-2 trillion to an awe-inspiring $16 trillion within just a few years’ time. In other words, spot ETFs are hot, and for in-demand commodities, they can mean serious gains.
The ether spot ETFs have some serious financial chops behind them. Thursday’s approval will see spot ETFs opening from VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and Bitwise. With some of the largest financial institutions in the world participating, there’s every reason to expect high investor demand for ether spot ETFs.
Ether is the second-most traded crypto coin – but that’s not all it represents. As an advanced platform, the Ethereum network is moving to be the foundational infrastructure behind the decentralized vision of Web 3.0. As it does so, more and more developers are getting behind the ether blockchain. In practical usage, transactions take significantly less time to verify with Ethereum than with Bitcoin, and the system is far less energy-intensive (due to using a PoS system rather than a PoW system).
Clearly, there’s a lot to celebrate about Ethereum – and with the doors now open to ether spot ETFs, now is the time to join the ether party. You don’t have to wait for an ETF to get on board, though. It’s possible to buy cryptocurrency directly, or even get tax advantages with a cryptocurrency IRA. Whether you’re investing in Bitcoin, Ethereum or a diversifying with a variety of tokens, you can get started setting up your digital IRA today.
