BlackRock argues SEC has no grounds to treat crypto futures and spot ETFs differently
BlackRock questioned the SEC's preference for the 1940 Act that oversees futures ETFs, and argued that it lacks relevancy to both crypto-spot and futures ETFs. BlackRock has argued that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission doesn't have any legitimate reason to treat spot-crypto and crypto-futures exchange-traded fund applications differently. BlackRock’s plan for a spot-Ether (ETH) ETF called the “iShares Ethereum Trust” was officially confirmed on Nov. 9, after Nasdaq submitted the 19b-4 application form to the SEC on the firm’s behalf. In its application, BlackRock called the SEC’s treatment of spot crypto ETFs into question, as it asserted that the agency bases its reasons for continually denying these applications on incorrect regulatory distinctions between futures and spot ETFs. “Given that the Commission has approved ETFs that offer exposure to ETH futures, which themselves are priced based on the underlying spot ETH market, the Sponsor believes that the Commiss...