In an exciting development in the crypto world, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has apparently got in touch with the key US exchanges – Nasdaq, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The contact was to encourage them to revise their applications for listing spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

This move, first reported by Reuters on May 21st, comes ahead of a regulatory deadline where the SEC must decide the fate of VanEck’s spot Ether ETF application after prolonging the process for 240 days. Exchanges have been urged to come forward with the changes quicker, with the SEC needing to see their up-to-date 19b-4 filings and S-1 registration statements before greenlighting any spot Ether ETFs.

There’s speculation in crypto circles that this could be a positive regulatory signal. Earlier, on May 20th, two separate ETF analysts reportedly upped their prediction on the likelihood of the SEC approving a spot ETF associated with Ether from 25% to 75%. This followed from rumours that the SEC was rushing through these filings.

Firms such as ARK 21Shares, BlackRock, Fidelity, Hashdex and Invesco Galaxy might benefit if the SEC approves VanEck’s application, as they are also hopeful of launching their own spot Ether ETFs. Interesting to note is that Fidelity already updated its S-1 filing to specify that it will not stake the Ether associated with the investment vehicle, hinting that this could be a precondition for SEC’s approval.

Previously, SEC public statements and filings showed a possible inclination to reject spot Ether ETF applications. Despite that, the commission has greenlighted several investment vehicles linked to ETH futures since October 2023 and numerous spot Bitcoin ETFs since January.