SEC Approves Trading For ETH ETFs

• The SEC approves trading for ETH ETFs.

• Superstate launches a crypto carry fund.

• Optimism announces Retro Funding Round 5.

• 10 years since the Ethereum ICO.

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The SEC has approved final filings for the trading of Spot Ethereum ETFs, allowing trading to begin in the U.S. According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, trading will commence tomorrow at 9:30 am EST. All eight ETH ETF issuers have obtained S-1 approvals. Grayscale offers the lowest fee, set at 0.15% for its ETF. Bitwise also announced its commitment to donate 10% of profits from its ETHW ETF to the Protocol Guild and the Proposer Builder Separation (PBS) Foundation. The donation follows VanEck's pledge last year, with both issuers committing to make donations for at least the next decade. The price of ETH remains relatively unaffected amid the news, trading around $3,450.

Superstate, a tokenized fund for Real World Assets (RWA), introduced USCC, a tokenized crypto cash-and-carry trading fund for institutional investors. The strategy leverages price differences between spot and futures markets for Bitcoin and Ether, optimizing yield by staking spot Ethereum holdings. A cash-and-carry trade is a delta-neutral strategy that remains relatively unaffected by market volatility. Superstate takes a 0.75% management fee for the product. USCC is Superstate’s second offering, following its initial product, a U.S. tokenized treasury fund with over $80 million in TVL. Superstate was founded last year by Robert Leshner, the founder of Compound.

Optimism announced its fifth retroactive funding round, allocating 8 million OP tokens to projects that have contributed to the OP Stack. Contributions can include core Ethereum infrastructure, research and development, and tooling to enhance accessibility and usability. Applications for the round will open on August 15th. To qualify, contributions must have generated impact between October 2023 and August 2024 in areas such as smart contract languages, Ethereum clients, and cryptography research. Projects focused on app development and deployment are not eligible for this round. Badgeholders will vote on fund allocation in September, with grants being delivered in October.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Ethereum ICO. On July 22, 2014, the Ethereum began selling 60 million ether at an initial rate of 2,000 ETH per BTC, worth approximately 31 cents per token. The ICO raised over $18 million worth of BTC, notably without any VC investors. A year later, Ethereum's genesis block went live on the mainnet. If held today, investors who participated in the ICO would see a 100x return against Bitcoin.

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