Grayscale Investments Gets Green Light from FINRA for Retail Trading of Ethereum Trust (ETHE)

Digital Assets giant, Grayscale Investment has announced that its Ethereum Trust (ETHE) has scaled through the regulatory process and has gotten the needed approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for retail trading. The firm confirmed the news through a press release issued on May 23, 2019.

Revolutionary Development

The new approval from the regulatory body will give ETHE, which is set to become the first publicly-quoted security based on Ethereum, the go-ahead to trade on over-the-counter (OTC) markets.

The new product will thus follow Grayscale’s equivalent of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum classic (ETC) Trusts, which are already public quoted.

Although, it remains to be seen if the new product will be compatible with the Depository Trust Company (DTC), which is the world’s largest securities depository with more than $35 trillion of securities deposited.

The company expressed optimism in the latest development, the official statement from the press release stated:

‘’ There will be no trading volume in the shares’ public quotation until the shares are DTC eligible, which ETH is expected to receive soon. Investors will be able to find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for shares of ETHE on OTC Markets websites once trading commences.’’

Soon Open to the Public

Grayscale Investment said that Ether will soon be open to the general public, after scaling through the regulatory hiccups.

The company was established in 2017 at the height of the crypto bubble. At inception, the Ethereum trust was only available to accredited and institutional investors at a minimum of $25,000 through private purchases.

But with the latest approval from FINRA, small investors will have the opportunity to buy shares in the trust in the over-the-counter markets. Grayscale Ethereum Trust currently possess about $12.5 million in assets under management.

Each of the trust’s shares, which will trade as ETH, is equivalent to about one-tenth of an ether. Consequently, there won’t be any trading volume available until all the shares are compatible with the DTC standards. With the latest development, investors in the Ethereum Trust and the shareholders will now have the opportunity to sell their shares over the counter.

Ether is currently pulling massive weight in the cryptospace. Currently the second-largest crypto after Bitcoin, it was able to rally about 80% this year to around $237, after a disappointing start in 2018, where it plunged from more than $1,100.

In related news, a report by Bitcoin Exchange Guide earlier this month revealed that Ethereum is outperforming Bitcoin in the return on investment metric. The Longhash report reveals that ETH native GAS consumption has been on the rise this year, which signifies an increase in the development of new DApps and smart contracts on the platform.

The available data also revealed that the total number of tx’s (transaction)taking place on the Ether’s blockchain surged to their annual high of 909,208 on May 16, 2019.

The report by Longdash also stressed that this year’s figures seem more sustainable and have hovering around the 700-800k region since late February.