Grayscale files for new Ether futures ETF — Official

Grayscale Advisors is in the process of becoming registered as a commodity pool operator with the U.S. CFTC for Grayscale’s new Ether futures ETF.

Digital currency investment company Grayscale is the latest firm to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a new Ether (ETH) futures exchange-traded fund (ETF)

On Sept. 19, Grayscale proposed listing and trading shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust ETF under the New York Stock Exchange Arca Rule 8.200-E.

The proposal is pursuant to the provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and rule change submitted by NYSE to the SEC. The ETF is managed by Grayscale Advisors, also referred to as the “sponsor” in the filing.

“The Sponsor is in the process of becoming registered as a commodity pool operator with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is in the process of becoming a member of the National Futures Association,” the document reads. It also states that Grayscale Advisors has engaged Videnct Advisory as a subadviser to serve as the trust’s commodity trading adviser.

The Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust seeks to maintain its holdings in Ether futures contracts with a “roughly constant expiration profile,” the filing reads, adding that it will “never carry futures positions all the way to cash settlement.”

The nature of the Ether futures contracts in the ETF will not require the trust to use an Ether custodian, the filing reads, adding:

“The trust will deposit an initial margin amount to initiate an open position in futures contracts. A margin deposit is like a cash performance bond. It helps assure the trader’s performance of the futures contracts that he or she purchases or sells.” 

The news comes a few weeks after the digital asset management firm Valkyrie also filed for an Ether futures ETF with the SEC in mid-August, following several other firms filing for ETH futures ETFs. On Aug. 17, Bloomberg reported that the SEC was set to allow the first ETFs based on Ether futures, spurring much optimism regarding the Ethereum market.

Related: Grayscale officially abandons post-Merge PoW Ethereum tokens

Last month, Grayscale scored a major, though partial, victory against the SEC in its efforts to convert its over-the-counter Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a listed spot Bitcoin ETF. The SEC had rejected its GBTC application, after which Grayscale sued. The appeals court ordered that Grayscale’s petition for review be granted and the SEC’s order to deny the GBTC listing application be vacated. This victory, despite not guaranteeing the eventual listing of a Grayscale spot Bitcoin ETF, was still greeted with enthusiasm by the community.

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