Gary Gensler Talks Ethereum ETF Approval and Decries Centralization in Crypto

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler stated that the approval process for spot market Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is “going smoothly.” Speaking at the Bloomberg Invest Summit in New York, Gensler indicated that the SEC would give final approval to the ETH ETF applications but did not provide a specific timeline.

Gensler explained that the SEC staff is diligently working through the required registration and disclosure statements for the ETH ETFs. He emphasized the transparency of the process: “I don’t know the timing, but it’s going smoothly. You can almost follow it publicly. You see these filings…”

He added, “It’s really about the asset managers making the full disclosure so that those registration statements can go effective and those lawyers know what that is. It’s something our Division of Corporation Finance handles hundreds, if not thousands of times over anybody’s career. It’s smoothly functioning. It’s really up to the asset managers to make the proper disclosures.”

Bloomberg ETF expert Eric Balchunas recently predicted that ETH ETFs might be approved by July 2nd.

Criticism of the Crypto Sector

In the same interview, Gensler criticized the crypto sector, describing it as “highly centralized.” He stated, “So much of this field is highly centralized. It’s not decentralized. That’s not what’s happening here. It’s highly centralized around a few platforms that are also centralizing and commingling things that we would never allow anywhere else. And we don’t.”

Gensler elaborated on the issues within the sector: “The law doesn’t allow you to be trading against your customers and operating a so-called exchange and trading in front and possibly also taking investments in an investment contract or security and then listing and getting the listing pop. These are all happening potentially at these, and we see some of the leading [ones who] two years ago would have filled a room much bigger than this if they were sitting on this stage are now sitting in jail or awaiting jail.”