BlackRock has filed with the SEC a Form S-1 for the registration of a spot ETF based on the second-largest cryptocurrency — the iShares Ethereum Trust.
Coinbase Custody Trust Company will act as custodian for the investment product.
iShares Ethereum Trust aims to “fully reflect” the dynamics of ETH. As a benchmark BlackRock selected the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR) from CF Benchmarks, a subsidiary of Kraken.
The asset manager made a similar choice for a future spot exchange-traded fund based on Bitcoin.
The asset’s price reacted to the news with a rapid rise from $2030 to $2080, but later corrected to around $2050.
Plans for BlackRock to launch the ETH-ETF became known a week earlier. Initially the proposal appeared on the Delaware Department of State’s Division of Corporations website, and then Nasdaq confirmed the registration of the iShares Ethereum Trust.
In June the company also filed an application to launch a Bitcoin ETF. At that time, information on the SEC site appeared seven days after the registration in the aforementioned state.
Earlier in November, CoinShares analysts noted interest among asset managers in Ethereum.
Geoffrey Kendrick, head of research at Standard Chartered, predicted the price rise of the second-largest cryptocurrency to $8000 by the end of 2026.