Crypto Week: Ethereum in focus. May 23 – the day the SEC will have to make a decision on the ETH Spot ETF.

This week is a key one for Ethereum as the SEC’s decision on one of the proposals to list Ethereum Spot ETFs is expected on May 23rd.
-According to Insiders /Bitwise’s lawyer/, the SEC is very likely to reject the proposal.

THE TECHNICAL PICTURE AT ETHEREUM
-Wide sideway in the last 1m. between the 3,200 and 2,850 levels
-RSI breaks downtrend and heads to overbought levels
-Another attempt to return above 38.2FIBO of the main trend, matching the ex high levels.
-A break and close above $3,120 will support Buy side traders to test the corrective resistance line and 65MA
–Alternative: A break and close below $3000 will increase sell pressure and the trade will head for a test of the main trend support line.

Foundation:
After months of silence, the US regulator is ready to announce a decision on at least one Ether ETF application. Some fund companies are expecting a rejection because their private dialogue with the SEC has not been as constructive as it was before the spot Bitcoin Spot ETF was approved in January.

“Most people generally expect a disapproval order,” said Catherine Dowling, general counsel at Bitwise, which filed for the Spot Ether ETF in March.

After delaying decisions on applications for the funds for the past few months, the SEC has until May 23 to approve or reject an application from VanEck. Ether fell nearly 20% in April as approval hopes dwindled.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has signaled that a feature of the Ethereum software known as staking could bring Ether under the SEC’s jurisdiction as a securities regulator. Such a decision would trigger a slew of compliance and investor protection rules that many in the crypto industry say are ill-suited to digital assets.
-It is not known whether the ETF decision will offer insight into the SEC’s view of Ether’s “staking” mechanism, where holders lock their tokens into the blockchain to help validate transactions and receive profit /interest/ in return .

In March, people familiar with the matter said the SEC requested information from companies about transactions with the Ethereum Foundation, the group that supports the blockchain ecosystem, as part of a review of aspects of Ether.

The SEC may also shed light on market dynamics between the Ether spot market and futures markets. Issuers may need to successfully prove the link between spot Ether pricing and futures markets and establish that the cryptocurrency cannot be manipulated without the perpetrators being caught.

Coinbase executives met with the SEC in March, telling the regulator that Ether’s spot markets were “highly indicative” of their resistance to fraud and manipulation. It is unclear whether the SEC will be satisfied with the company’s correlation analysis.

Regardless of whether the funds are approved or not, this will be the first time the SEC will publicly offer substantial insight into their position on Spot-Ether ETFs – which will be key for investors, traders and funds in understanding how Ether will be treated and what regulators will be watching for.