Though there always is excitement surrounding Ethereum, last week was one of the more thrilling ones. It all revolves around approval(s) for Ethereum Spot ETFs which seemingly appears to be more and more likely for each passing day.
Last week on November 16th, Blackrock, the world's largest asset manager with over 9 trillion dollars under management officially filed for a Spot Ethereum ETF. The significance of this is massive. A spot Ethereum ETF will hold Ethereum directly in contrast to Ethereum futures ETFs which only gives exposure to Ethereum price movements through Ethereum futures contracts as its underlying and does not hold Ethereum itself. The hype surrounding the spot Ethereum ETF is justified as this would open up Ethereum for the institutional masses which currently may be held back by their investment mandates. Furthermore, spot Ethereum ETFs will also substantially reduce the barriers of entry for the everyday retail investor. Many retail investors are currently sitting on the fence as they have heard about Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, but do not want to risk doing everything themselves when it comes to investing in it. This investment group would rather rely on investing into an ETF with Blackrock as the provider using their regular brokerage accounts than signing up to a cryptocurrency exchange.
Even better, one can now almost sense a FOMO amongst financial institutions to get a first movers advantage when it comes to launching Ethereum spot ETFs.
Only a day after the Blackrock official filing, Fidelity (with 4.5 trillion dollars under management) filed for an Ethereum spot ETF. If institutional giants like Blackrock, Grayscale and Fidelity all get their spot Ethereum ETFs approved, it is something we believe will turn out to be a pivotal moment for Ethereum.
In terms of price action, Ethereum traded in the range of 2100 - 1900 dollars throughout last week with volume ranging from 7 - 15 billion (approximate numbers).
This text is intended to inform and is not an investment recommendation.
Best regards,
Adam Jakobsen.
NBX Team.
