US investment firm WisdomTree has requested to withdraw its Ethereum Trust registration statement, three years after filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The development comes hours after fellow asset manager VanEck closed its Ethereum futures ETF due to lack of demand.
WisdomTree Terminates Ethereum ETF Registration
In a submit On September 6, WisdomTree approached the SEC to withdraw the S-1 registration form of the exchange-traded fund known as “WisdomTree Ethereum Trust.” The American asset manager first submitted this registration statement on May 27, 2021, with the aim of launching an ETF that offers investors exposure to Ethereum, but with lower costs and fewer obligations.
A statement from the application read:
To achieve its investment objective, the Trust will hold ether and value its holdings daily based on the (CF Ether-Dollar US Settlement Price), which is an independently calculated value based on an aggregation of executed trade flows from major ether spot exchanges.”
The “WisdomTree Ethereum Trust” would trade on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) with a proposed maximum aggregate offering price of $1,000,000.
Three years later, WisdomTree filed a request to withdraw the registration statement of this ETF, together with all relevant annexes. The asset manager states that no securities have been/will be sold to investors in connection with the said application. In addition, WisdomTree has acknowledged that the filing fee for this registration statement, amounting to $109.10, is non-refundable. They have also requested that this fee be expended for future use.
As previously mentioned, WisdomTree’s announcement comes shortly after VanEck revealed plans to close its VanEck Ethereum Strategy ETF (EFUT), an investment fund based on Ethereum futures contracts. According to VanEck, the decision is based on an analysis of several factors, including “performance, liquidity, assets under management, and investor interest.” Trading activity on EFUT will cease on September 16, with shares liquidated on or around September 23.
ETH Spot ETF Market Sees $6 Million Loss
In other news, the Ethereum Spot ETF market had recorded an outflow of $6 million in the past day according to data from Farside Investors. The emerging market’s total cumulative net flows now stand at -$568.5 million, despite holding over 2% of the Ethereum market. Meanwhile, data from CoinMarketCap shows Ethereum is trading at $2,237 after a decline of 6.64% in the past day.
Main image from Markets Insider, chart from Tradingview