Former Binance Labs head asserts that traditional Wall Street firms are advocating for the approval of an Ether ETF.

According to Bill Qian, chairman of Cypher Capital and former global head of fundraising at Binance Labs, it is Wall Street firms and large financial institutions, rather than crypto natives, who are pushing for the approval of spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Qian stated in an interview with Cointelegraph that the current push for ETF approval is being driven by Wall Street firms. Companies such as BlackRock, Grayscale, Fidelity, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, Hashdex, and Franklin Templeton are all vying for the approval of a spot Ether ETF. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decision on VanEck’s ETF application to May 23 and also delayed its decision on the Hashdex and ARK 21Shares spot Ether ETFs. Qian believes that large issuers have a greater vested interest in the approval of the Ether ETF due to the fees they would generate. Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF offers the highest fee of 1.5%, followed by BlackRock and Fidelity with 0.25%, and 21Shares with 0.21%. Prior to the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, several applicants updated their S-1 filings multiple times in an effort to lower their ETF fees and offer the lowest management fees to clients. Bitwise offered the lowest fees among the 10 ETF issuers, with ETFs that have zero fees for the first six months and a 0.20% fee thereafter. Qian believes that a spot Ether ETF is highly likely to be approved this year, driven by demand from BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart expects the current Ether ETF approvals to be declined in late May.