BlackRock and Nasdaq today took the initiative to add options to asset manager iShares’ Ethereum Trust (ETHA) cash exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to the file:
“In particular, the Exchange considers that the proposal to list and trade options on the Trust “This will remove barriers and improve the mechanism of a free and open market and a national market system and, in general, protect investors because the offering of options on the Trust will provide investors with a greater opportunity to realize the benefits of using options on a spot ether-based ETF, including cost savings and increased hedging strategies.”
Additionally, Nasdaq said it has already listed options on other commodity ETFs structured as trusts, citing BlackRock products as examples, such as the iShares COMEX Gold Trust and the iShares Silver Trust.
James Seyffart, Bloomberg ETF analyst sharing On X (formerly Twitter), the SEC has 21 days to comment on the matter. Still, he said the final deadline for a decision from the regulator is “probably around” April 9, 2025.
It should be noted that the SEC is not the only regulator that must approve this joint initiative by Nasdaq and BlackRock. As Seyffart pointed out, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) must also approve this requirement.
ETHA’s growing dominance
BlackRock’s Ethereum ETF is seeing strong growth in inflows. Since the launch of Ethereum spot ETFs in the US on July 23, ETHA’s dominance has tripled from 3% to 9%. According to DefiLlama, ETHA’s assets under management (AUM) stand at over $521 million.
However, Grayscale’s ETF-converted mutual fund, ETHE, still holds a considerable lead over the other funds. ETHE has $4.77 billion in assets under management, nearly nine times the size of ETHA.
However, the same movement occurred after the launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs in the United States, resulting in a gradual growth of BlackRock’s IBIT, overtaking Grayscale’s GBTC.
Mentioned in this article
Gino Matos
Gino Matos is a law graduate and seasoned journalist with six years of experience in the crypto sector. His expertise focuses mainly on the Brazilian blockchain ecosystem and developments in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Assad Jafri
AJ, a passionate journalist since the 2011 Arab Spring in Yemen, has honed his skills around the world for over a decade. Specializing in financial journalism, he now focuses on reporting on cryptocurrencies.
