Previously, the giant investment bank Standard Chartered, which had expressed optimistic views about the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs by the Securities and Exchange Commission, now believes that US regulators will probably not approve ETFs providing access to Ethereum in May.
Standard Chartered’s ETF Perspective
When January came around, approval had been given for spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds. This led to a price rally in Bitcoin. However, Standard Chartered does not show a downtrend amidst changing expectations for an ether ETF.
A research report presented by Standard Chartered on Tuesday indicated that despite cryptocurrencies facing severe hits last week, the worst is likely behind us. This could be a good position for the market’s recovery.
Analyst Geoff Kendrick:
Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) entries stopped and Ethereum ETFs are now unlikely to be approved in May as expected.
In a report presented by Kendrick on March 18, it had been stated that Ethereum spot ETFs would likely receive approval on May 23.
Kendrick:
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) targeted decentralized finance (DeFi) by suing Uniswap, US Treasury yields rose, Federal Reserve postponed interest rate cuts, and risky assets like BTC and ETH were pulled down by escalating conflicts in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, the bank noted that the bad news on the Bitcoin and Ethereum front had already been priced in, while forces that could move the market forward might come into play again.
The bank highlighted that the year-end potential price target for Bitcoin (BTC) is $150,000, and the forecast for Ethereum (ETH) is $8,000. Bitcoin was trading around $66,500 at the time of writing.
SEC Delays ETF Approval
In addition, Franklin’s application for spot Ethereum ETFs was also postponed. Following the postponement, attention turned to the Ethereum price.
At the time of writing, the Ethereum price appears unaffected by the news and continues to trade above $3,200, with an increase of over 1%.
During this period, Ethereum’s market cap saw an increase of over 3%, reaching $394 billion. The 24-hour trading volume fell by 1%, dropping to $11 billion.
