British bank Standard Chartered (STAN) expects that spot Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will be approved in the U.S. during May of this year.
Standard Chartered also forecasts that the price of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, will rise to $4,000 U.S. in the lead-up to the ETF approval.
The bank expects that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will treat the applications for Ethereum spot ETFs almost exactly as it did the Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs that it approved on Jan. 10 this year.
Specifically, Standard Chartered sees the SEC approving Ethereum ETFs on May 23, which is the deadline for the Wall Street regulator to rule on spot ETF applications it has received from asset managers VanEck and Ark/21 Shares.
In a note to clients, Standard Chartered said that there is “no fundamental reason” for the SEC to treat Ethereum ETFs any differently than Bitcoin.
In coming months, Ethereum’s price could rally as high as $4,000 U.S. as anticipation for approval of the spot ETFs grows, says Standard Chartered.
Bitcoin’s price rose 95% from around $25,000 in mid-June to $49,000 in early January, largely due to excitement around approval of the spot ETFs. Bitcoin’s price has since dropped to $42,750 U.S.
The price of Ethereum has increased 45% over the last 12 months and currently trades at $2,305.00 U.S. per digital token.
