Standard Chartered foresees Ethereum ETF approval by May 23

Geoffrey Kendrick of Standard Chartered Bank predicts the SEC’s approval of U.S. Ethereum ETFs by May 23.

Starting with initial rejections before granting approval, Standard Chartered foresees parallels for the Ethereum ETF with the SEC’s approach to Bitcoin ETFs.

Geoffrey Kendrick, who leads the bank’s forex and digital assets research, believes Ethereum ETFs in the U.S. will get the green light in late May. Kendrick compares this situation to what happened with Bitcoin ETFs and thinks Ethereum’s price (ETH) may reach $4,000 by that date due to hype.

Kendrick’s confidence comes from the fact that the SEC hasn’t treated Ether as a security in its legal actions. Ether is already being traded as a future on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

“Grayscale, which has an Ethereum trust, wants to convert it into an ETF. If they get denied, they will likely appeal,” he said, adding that there’s no reason for the SEC to treat Ethereum differently.

Kendrick is generally optimistic about cryptocurrencies and their price valuations. Kendrick predicted that Bitcoin could hit $100,000 by the end of this year and $200,000 by 2025. He believes these targets are possible, especially with funds expected to continually flow into Bitcoin ETFs.

Following Bitcoin ETF approval, Bitcoin’s price fell slightly due to Grayscale Bitcoin Trust outflows, but Bitcoin’s price has since rebounded and now sits around $43,540. Kendrick believes Ethereum will not face the same sort of post-approval drop in price due to the Grayscale Ethereum Trust not being as large of a part of the Ethereum market as Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust was for Bitcoin.

Kendrick expects that on May 23, the SEC will approve basic Ethereum ETFs that follow the price of Ethereum. He adds that ETFs that include extra earnings from staking might come later and already exist in Europe.

Kendrick also talks about Ethereum’s upcoming upgrades, saying it should make Ethereum more competitive and keep rewards from staking high for longer and that this, in turn, will benefit Ethereum’s price.