A couple of days after submitting separate filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an Ethereum ETF (exchange-traded fund), VanEck and ProShares have both decided to withdraw their applications.
The two U.S.-based asset management companies submitted their individual applications less than two days ago. VanEck’s filing stated its intention to launch an “Ethereum Strategy Fund” while ProShares applied for an “Ether Strategy ETF.”
By proposing to list their Ethereum ETFs, both companies had seemingly aimed at providing exposure to Ether (ETH) through investments in future contracts involving other exchange-traded products such as the physically-backed Bitcoin product launched by VanEck last year’s November.
No longer wishing to register their respective Ethereum ETFs anymore, legal representatives of VanEck and ProShares submitted separate withdrawal filings to the SEC today, adding that they have not sold any securities in connection to the earlier offering.
As to whether VanEck’s and ProShares’ actions were coincidental or planned is still not known. However, the controversial issue with this development is that both firms submitted their proposal applications on the same day, 18th of August 2021, and also submitted withdrawal applications on the same day, 20th of August, 2021.
For VanEck’s part, the move is not surprising as this is not the first time the asset manager has withdrawn its application. In 2019, the company withdrew its application to list a Bitcoin ETF on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) in the United States.
At the time, VanEck stated that since the SEC will likely not meet the deadline for announcing a decision on the proposal, it would be best to pull out now rather than face an unjust automatic rejection. It was then resubmitted later that year.
