Sources say the U.S. SEC has requested exchanges to expedite the update of their 19b-4 applications, increasing the approval chances for spot Ethereum ETFs to 75%

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, three insiders stated that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked exchanges to expedite updates to their 19b-4 applications, indicating that it may approve these applications before the critical deadline (May 23/24). However, this does not mean that the ETF will be approved. Potential issuers also need their S-1 applications to be approved before the products can begin trading. The SEC may take an indefinite amount of time to approve S-1 documents, as there is no deadline for their approval.
Additionally, according to one insider, a company negotiating with the SEC stated that a few weeks ago the SEC was still dragging its feet, but now it feels like it is finally on the right track to obtain approval.
Moreover, Bloomberg ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart raised the chances of a spot Ether ETF approval from 25% to 75% after hearing rumors about the SEC possibly taking a more favorable stance on the applications. They later corrected their statement, saying that this possibility is related to the approval of the 19b-4.

Possibly influenced by this news, the ETH price quickly broke through $3500, peaking at $3592, with a 24-hour increase of over 17%.

The SEC is expected to make a decision on the VanEck spot Ether ETF on May 23.

ChainCatcher note: Currently, there are seven entities applying for Ethereum ETFs, namely: BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco&Galaxy, Grayscale, VanEck, 21Shares&Ark, and Hashdex. The approval deadlines for each entity at the SEC are shown in the table below: