U.S. Firm Backing Ether-Based ETF Says to Refile Listing ApplicationU.S. Firm Backing Ether-Based ETF Says to Refile Listing Application
The delay was because of a timing issue.
September 8, 2017
NEW YORK, Sept 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. firm behind an effortto start an exchange-traded fund based on the cryptocurrencyether said on Thursday it planned to refile an application tolist the security on Intercontinental Exchange Inc'sNYSE Arca exchange after an initial filing was withdrawn.
NYSE withdrew the application with the U.S. Securities andExchange Commission to list the EtherIndex Ether Trust ETF onWednesday, according to a regulatory filing. The withdrawal cameafter EtherIndex LLC, which would issue the fund's shares,amended its registration filing for the ETF on Tuesday.
The delay "is a timing issue and not at all a reflection ofour commitment to the product," Joseph Quintilian, chieffinancial officer of EtherIndex, said in an email.
The SEC began proceedings in April on whether to approve theETF and was due to make a decision by Sept. 20.
EtherIndex will refile the application "the moment we seethe appropriate developments in the marketplace," saidQuintilian, who is also a partner at Axiom Markets LLC, afutures trading firm he co-founded in 2005 with Virtu Financialfounder Vincent Viola. He did not give more details.
A spokeswoman for NYSE declined to comment.
Ether is a digital commodity based on the value token of theblockchain of the peer-to-peer Ethereum computer network, andthe ETF would provide shareholders with exposure to the dailychange in the U.S. dollar price of the token.
The rapid rise in value of cryptocurrencies this year hasdriven fears of a bubble that could burst. That, along with anumber of massive cybersecurity breaches affecting digitalcurrency holders and the lack of consistent treatment of theassets by governments has caught the attention of regulators.
In April, the SEC said it would review an earlier decisionto block the listing of the first U.S. ETF tracking thecryptocurrency bitcoin, on CBOE Holdings Inc's Batsexchange.
And in July the regulator said tokens issued through initialcoin offerings (ICOs), where digital currencies based onblockchain technologies are sold publicly and then traded onsecondary exchanges, can be considered securities.
That means ICOs would fall under laws that requiredisclosures and are subject to regulatory scrutiny to protectinvestors, unless a "valid exemption" applies.
China on Monday banned ICOs, which have raised $2.16 billionthis year, and have helped fuel the rapid rise in value ofcryptocurrencies. The move caused the prices of ether andbitcoin to tumble.(Reporting by John McCrank; Editing by Andrew Hay)
