Coinbase called on the SEC to classify ETH-ETF units as commodity-based stocks
The exchange also committed to enter into an agreement with CME to prevent manipulation of the ETH spot market
Representatives of the American crypto exchange Coinbase held a meeting with officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to discuss the application of the investment company Grayscale to launch an Ethereum-based spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). Following the meeting, a Coinbase presentation about the new product was included in the application for the SEC. In the presentation, the exchange proposed classifying ETH-ETF units as stocks based on an exchange-traded commodity, by analogy with already approved BTC-ETFs.
The meeting was attended by SEC employees from the Department of Trade and Markets, as well as Grayscale lawyers from the firm Davis Polk. Representatives of Coinbase argued that the ETH spot market demonstrates resistance to fraud and manipulation — these aspects were also the main cause of concern for the commission during the review of applications for the launch of bitcoin funds, which were eventually approved on January 10 this year.
Coinbase announced that it will conclude a joint surveillance agreement with the CME stock exchange to prevent fraud and manipulation. A similar clause is contained in the applications of the issuers of BTC-ETFs, the companies included it in their documents after the SEC rejected them due to incomplete information.
At the same time, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas questioned the success of this meeting. He clarified that officials do not give ETH-ETF issuers feedback, which is not a good sign. A similar opinion is shared by his colleague James Seyfart, who previously stated that the SEC would approve the ETH-ETF in May with a 60% probability.
