Ethereum spot ETF approval in May? Justin Sun weighs in

Tron founder Justin Sun has voiced his doubts about the likelihood of a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) being approved in the upcoming month.

The crypto mogul’s latest prediction echoes a similar opinion from multiple analysts, who also expect the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reject applications for spot Ether ETFs from multiple issuers.

In an April 28 X post, Sun weighed in on the subject, adding:

“The crypto industry still needs to prepare for a long-term education with regulators, focusing on helping them understand crypto. But we’ve always been here, haven’t we?”

According to a Reuters report, U.S. financial firms do not expect spot Ethereum ETF approval to happen in May, citing discouraging meetings with the watchdog in recent weeks.

So far, Blackrock, VanEck, ARK Investment Management, and six other issuers have filed with the SEC to list spot Ethereum ETFs. The SEC is required to make decisions on VanEck’s and ARK’s files, which are first in line, by May 23 and May 24, respectively, according to the report.

However, the prospects for these spot Ethereum ETFs being approved by the SEC appear to differ from those for spot Bitcoin ETFs, which were approved in January.

In March, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas assessed the likelihood of a spot Ether ETF being approved in May at about 35%. He pointed out that the SEC’s approach was less proactive than that for the Bitcoin ETF applications.

Meanwhile, Sun is no stranger to dealing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC recently sued Sun on claims of fraud, market manipulation, and airdropping unregistered securities.

According to the SEC lawsuit, Sun and the aforementioned crypto businesses violated federal securities laws by offering and selling unregistered securities such as Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT).

In updated court filings, the SEC claims that the Tron founder “travelled extensively” to the U.S. throughout “his work on behalf of the Tron Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation, and/or Rainberry.”

Sun holds approximately $1 billion in assets in multiple wallets linked to him, with the $280 million USDD algorithmic stablecoin being his largest holding, according to Arkham’s data.