Financial behemoth Fidelity has submitted an amended Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposal, adding staking to its application.
According to the filing, it would be possible to stake a portion of the fund’s assets with the help of a trusted staking provider.
Similarities with Bitcoin ETFs
The amended filing references the approval of multiple approvals of spot Bitcoin ETFs. The financial giant argues that it makes sense to greenlight the same product for the largest altcoin due to the high correlation between Ethereum and Bitcoin futures issued by CME.
Since the SEC expects the CME’s surveillance to be useful for assisting in detecting possible instances of fraudulent and manipulative practices, Fidelity claims that the same rationale should be applied to spot Ethereum ETFs.
It is worth mentioning that Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF has managed to end up among the most popular ETFs of this year so far after attracting almost $7 billion since its launch in January.
It occupied the top spots alongside BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, which continues to shatter records.
Low approval odds, high price targets
As reported by U.Today, Standard Chartered recently made a stunning prediction about the Ethereum price potentially reaching the pie-in-the-sky $8,000 target if the SEC were to approve a spot Ethereum ETF this May.
However, such a scenario remains unlikely according to various experts. Political pressure appears to be the main impediment as of now, with the SEC facing some backlash in Congress following the success of spot Bitcoin ETFs.
There are varying opinions about the possible impact of a spot Ethereum ETF. Investment firm VanEck, for instance, believes that a spot ETF could end up being an even bigger deal than similar Bitcoin products. However, Eric Balchunas, a senior Bloomberg analyst, recently downplayed the impact of such an ETF, comparing it to an opening act trying to follow a headliner.
