Odaily News U.S. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said on Wednesday that when spot ETFs tied to the cryptocurrency Ethereum begin trading will largely depend on how quickly issuers respond to SEC inquiries. The SEC approved applications from Nasdaq, CBOE and NYSE to list spot Ethereum ETFs last month. It was an unexpected victory for the cryptocurrency industry, which had expected the SEC to reject the applications after meetings with regulators. Before an ETF begins trading, the SEC must still approve the ETF issuer's registration statement, which details investor disclosures. The process typically involves a lot of back-and-forth between ETF issuers and SEC officials. "These registrants will proactively respond to the comments they receive, but the extent of the response really depends on them," he said. Gensler declined to say whether he thought the process would take weeks or months. Gensler and SEC officials have not previously commented on why the SEC made a U-turn and approved the application for a spot Ethereum ETF, but he said on Wednesday that a lawsuit filed by Grayscale last year forced the SEC to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF in January, which affected the SEC's view of Ethereum. Grayscale successfully argued at the time that the SEC had previously approved ETFs tied to bitcoin futures, so it should also approve spot bitcoin ETFs because bitcoin futures prices are highly correlated with spot prices. Gensler said the cases are similar because the futures Ethereum ETF has been trading since last year. SEC staff "looked at the documents and looked at various correlations...which are relatively similar to the correlations in the bitcoin space." The SEC approved the spot bitcoin ETF in January of this year after the court ruled in favor of Grayscale last year. Gensler acknowledged the court's decision in a statement at the time, adding that he believed approving the products was the "most sustainable path forward." For a decade, the SEC has consistently rejected bitcoin ETFs. "But the court ruled the opposite. We adjusted," Gensler said. However, he added that he still believes the cryptocurrency space is "rife with fraud, scams and conflicts." (Jin Shi)