Fidelity Updates Filing for Ether ETF and Announces $4.7 Million Initial Capital

Investment giant Fidelity Investments has made a significant update to its application to launch a dedicated Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 21. . The modification to Form S-1, essential for registering public investments, signals an important advance for the project.

The review reveals a significant capital contribution by FMR Capital, an affiliate of Fidelity, which acquired 125,000 shares at a price of US$38 each, totaling an initial investment of US$4.7 million. This amount was used to purchase 1,250 units of Ether, intended to support the fund’s assets.

Importantly, Fidelity confirmed that it will not participate in ETH staking activities, a decision that aligns with the removal of this functionality from its original proposal, made a month earlier, on May 21st. The document clarifies: “The Trust will not participate in the Ethereum network’s proof-of-stake validation mechanism (i.e., the Trust will not ‘stake’ its ether) to earn additional ether or pursue other means of generating income from its holdings. in ether.”

In addition to Fidelity, the rule change approved by the SEC now allows large asset managers, including VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy and Bitwise, to list and trade eight spot Ether ETFs. All of these funds are still awaiting final SEC approval for their S-1 forms before they can be officially marketed.

Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, suggests that June 21st will mark a series of filing changes, with the funds expected to launch on July 2nd. Balchunas commented in an X post: “We will see a bunch of amended S-1s filed today, probably late afternoon. Then the ball is in the SEC’s court to inform issuers of any final changes and effectiveness (also known as final approval). We hold the line with July 2nd as the over/under launch date for eth ETFs.”

Next step: we will see a bunch of amended S-1s filed today, prob later this afternoon. Then ball’s in SEC’s court to let issuers know about any final changes and effectiveness (aka final approval). We holding the line with July 2nd as our over/under for eth ETFs launch date. https://t.co/EmqCVsE0Qe

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) June 21, 2024

At the time of publication, the price of ETH was quoted at US$3,485.13 with a drop of 1% in the last 24 hours.

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