Standard Chartered is anticipating that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will give the green light to ether Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) this week.
The first deadlines for these ether ETFs are just around the corner, with VanEck’s deadline on May 23 and Ark Invest/21Shares’ on May 24.
Geoff Kendrick, the Head of FX Research and Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered Bank, shared his thoughts with The Block. He expressed a high level of confidence, about 80% to 90%, that the SEC will approve ether ETFs this week.
Kendrick predicts that once approved, these spot ETFs could lead to significant investments in ether. He estimates that between 2.39 million and 9.15 million ether could flow into these ETFs within the first year. This amount is equivalent to roughly $15 billion to $45 billion in U.S. dollars.
He also compared this to bitcoin ETFs, saying that the estimated inflows as a percentage of market cap are similar and that their predictions for bitcoin ETFs have been accurate so far.
In a detailed analysis sent to The Block on Tuesday, Kendrick suggested that if ether ETFs are approved this week, ether’s price could continue to rise alongside bitcoin. He believes that the current price ratio of 5.4% between ether and bitcoin might remain steady through the end of 2024.
Based on these projections, Kendrick envisions bitcoin reaching $150,000 by the end of 2024, which would imply an ether price of around $8,000. Looking further ahead, he anticipates bitcoin climbing to $200,000 by the end of 2025, which would suggest an ether price of approximately $14,000 by then. This forecast reiterates the price target Standard Chartered set for ether back in March.
On Monday, the SEC asked for updates to 19b-4 filings related to spot ether ETFs, hinting at possible approval but without any guarantees. Following this request, Bloomberg ETF analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas increased their approval odds for ether ETFs from 25% to 75%.
In response to these developments, ether’s price saw a significant rise, jumping over 19% in the past 24 hours to $3,719 as of 6:49 a.m. ET, according to The Block’s Price Page.
Additionally, the GM 30 Index, which tracks the top 30 cryptocurrencies, also saw a notable increase, rising by 9.25% to 148.75 during the same period.