For the past few months, the cryptocurrency market has been abuzz with anticipation as Ethereum enthusiasts eagerly await the launch of spot Ether ETFs.

Amidst this excitement, Arthur Cheong, the founder and CEO of DeFiance Capital, has boldly predicted that Ethereum’s price could soar to $4,500 even before the ETFs hit the market.

Cheong’s confident assertion follows a Twitter poll on Sunday, in which he asked his followers to disclose the percentage of their crypto portfolios allocated to Ethereum. The striking results showed that despite Ethereum’s undeniable prominence and potential, only 25% of respondents had allocated a mere 47% to ETH.

“Just look at how much CT (Crypto Twitter) is under-allocated to ETH,” Cheong noted, signaling the untapped potential and latent demand for Ethereum within the broader cryptocurrency landscape.

Notably, Cheong’s forecast follows the recent approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of 19b-4 filings from issuers of Ethereum-based spot exchange-traded funds. This regulatory green light injected renewed optimism into the Ethereum community, sending the price of ETH briefly surging to $3,900 before a minor correction to around $3,500.

Meanwhile, while the launch of Ethereum ETFs hinges on the SEC’s signing of registration statements on Form S-1, Bloomberg stock analyst James Seyffarth cautioned that this process could take “weeks or months.” Nonetheless, industry experts like Michael Saylor, the founder of MicroStrategy, view the approval of Ethereum ETFs as a significant development not only for Ethereum but also for Bitcoin.

In a recent interview on the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast, Saylor noted that ETH-ETFs serve as “another line of defense for Bitcoin,” amplifying the political clout of the entire crypto industry. The Bitcoin maxi contended that institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies will accelerate as skeptical investors increasingly perceive them as a legitimate asset class.

Looking ahead, some pundits, like investment bank TD Cowen, foresee the emergence of ETFs based on a “basket of cryptocurrency tokens” within a year. The bank views the SEC’s approval of Ethereum ETFs as inevitable, particularly following the green light given to cryptocurrency futures ETFs. Just recently, Matrixport co-founder Daniel Yang suggested that ETH ETF approval could pave the way for other assets like Solana to follow suit.

Ethereum was trading at $3,895 at press time, reflecting a 1.57% surge over the past 24 hours.

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ May 27, 2024 10:36 pm