The price of Ethereum experienced a significant surge on Monday, reaching $3,900, driven by a strong sense of optimism among investors. DeFiance Capital founder Arthur Cheong believes that Ethereum (ETH) is poised to surpass the $4,000 mark even before the introduction of spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as he perceives the market to be significantly “underallocated.”
Cheong took to social media platform X on May 26 to share his projection that Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, could potentially reach $4,500 prior to the launch of ETF trading. He supported his claim by referencing a survey which revealed that almost half of the participants had allocated only up to 25% of their portfolios to Ethereum, suggesting that the market may be underestimating its potential.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave its approval for multiple spot Ethereum ETFs on May 23, after facing several delays. This decision has raised investor expectations that traditional market players will inject fresh capital into Ethereum, similar to the surge witnessed with spot Bitcoin ETFs that helped BTC reach a new all-time high of $73,750 in March.
Despite this positive news, ETF issuers are still awaiting the SEC’s approval for their registration statements, which outline investor disclosures. Unlike exchange filings, there is no fixed timeline for the SEC to greenlight these statements, leading to uncertainty regarding the trading launch date.
While a Reuters source familiar with the situation hinted that the approval process for trading could take a few days or weeks, no specific details were provided. Former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, in an interview with CNBC, expressed his belief that the commencement of spot ETH ETF trading is inevitable, describing it as a matter of “when” rather than “if,” although he acknowledged that there are still some unresolved issues.
At the time of writing, Ethereum is currently trading at $3,910, as per data from CoinGecko.