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VanEck, ProShares Abruptly Withdraw Ether Futures ETF Proposals

Investment firms Van Eck and ProShares have both withdrawn their applications with the SEC for approval of ether futures ETFs, just two days after filing them.

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 1:43 p.m. Published Aug 20, 2021, 5:59 p.m.
VanEck

Investment firms VanEck and ProShares have both withdrawn their applications with the SEC for approval of ether futures ETFs, just two days after filing them, according to an analyst.

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  • VanEck filed on Wednesday for an Ethereum-based exchange-traded-fund that would invest in ether futures contracts, Canada’s already-approved ether ETFs, private ether funds and exchange-traded products with exposure to ether.
  • ProShares also filed on Wednesday for approval for an ETF based on ether futures called the ProShares Ether Strategy ETF.
  • Senior ETF Analyst for Bloomberg Eric Balchunas speculated that the abrupt withdrawals could mean that the SEC spoke to both firms and told them they were unlikely to approve an ETF futures fund.
  • There are over a dozen bitcoin ETF applications currently before the SEC.
  • In remarks earlier this month, SEC chair Gary Gensler suggested he would look more favorably upon bitcoin ETFs that only trade bitcoin futures contracts.

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KuCoin Hits Record Market Share as 2025 Volumes Outpace Crypto Market

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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.

What to know:

  • KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
  • This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
  • Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
  • Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
  • Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.

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Bitcoin hash rate slides during U.S. winter storm while markets shrug off mining disruption

(Zac Durant/Unsplash)

The temporary loss of mining power underscores academic concerns that geographic and pool concentration can magnify infrastructure failures, though markets showed little immediate reaction.

What to know:

  • Bitcoin’s hashrate fell about 10 percent during a U.S. winter storm, underscoring how local power disruptions can strain the network’s capacity to process transactions.
  • Researchers have shown that concentrated mining, as seen in a 2021 regional outage in China, can lead to slower block times, higher fees and broader market disruptions.
  • With a few large pools now controlling most of Bitcoin’s hashrate, the network is increasingly vulnerable to localized infrastructure failures, even as the price of BTC remains largely unaffected in the short term.