🎉Weekly Recap: SEC Approves Spot Ethereum ETFs

Happy weekend Defiers!

The sudden approval of spot Ether ETFs dominated headlines this week.

ETH and Ethereum ecosystem assets rallied on Tuesday after rumors swirled that the SEC had suddenly pivoted towards approving spot Ether ETF hopefuls, with reports claiming the regulator requested updated filings from applicants. The SEC received a spate of amended 19b-4 filings immediately after.

The SEC approved the 19b-4 filings for eight spot Ether ETFs on May 23, crucially signaling that ETH comprises a commodity rather than a security asset. The U.S. House of Representatives also passed the FIT21 bill on May 22, indicating that the SEC and the CFTC will collaborate on regulating the crypto industry in the United States moving forward.

In other Ethereum news, drama ensued after Dankrad Feist and Justin Drake, prominent members of the Ethereum Foundation, disclosed high-paying advisory positions with EigenLayer. Some Ethereum community members fear the roles could impact Feist and Drake’s neutrality moving forward.

A sustained spate of low gas fees also resulted in Ether’s supply inflating by $238M worth of ETH over the past six weeks. While cheap fees are good for adoption, they also appear to be threatening Ethereum’s deflationary value proposition.

It was also a bullish week for Solana, with assets in the Solana ecosystem continuing post gains. Phantom, a popular wallet among Solana users, overtook Facebook on the Google Play store with 770,000 downloads in April.

EtherFi announced it will soon launch a credit card linked to users’ restaking balances. The project said holders can use the card to make payments worldwide either by deducting funds from restaking holdings or borrowing USDC against users’ assets.

Restaking remains a hot topic in web3, with developers scrambling to replicate Ethereum’s booming restaking sector leveraging BTC.

NFTs experienced a volatile week, with Miladys rallying while Ethereum NFTs continue to suffer drawdowns. Yuga Labs also garnered pushback after revealing the first official CryptoPunks collaboration.