VanEck CEO Foresees Market Turmoil, Doubts Ethereum ETF Approval and Predicts Shift Toward Bitcoin

“Give me a little bit more Bitcoin,” said VanEck CEO Jan van Eck at the Paris Blockchain Week, which kicked off on Tuesday. The asset manager which offers the Spot Bitcoin ETF with the ticker HODL, said he believes investors will turn their interest towards gold and Bitcoin as economic conditions tighten.

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Van Eck said markets are wary of financial difficulties in the United States with neither candidate for the presidency promising any relief on that front.

I’ve got this theory that the markets are starting to price in a big fiscal problem in the United States in 2025. They look at the two presidential candidates who are the biggest spenders in US history, and they’re going like, I’m not sure this problem is going to be solved.

Jan van Eck, VanEck CEO

While he believes investors will increasingly pour funds into Bitcoin, he doesn’t think the ‘digital gold’ will reach half the market cap of gold before 2030-2035.

Van Eck: “Pins Are Dropping as Far as Ethereum Is Concerned”

Speaking to CNBC on the sideline of the conference the VanEck CEO commented on the process of the Spot Ethereum ETF – and was not very optimistic. Van Eck believes their application will probably be rejected in May, adding that while the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had communicated with them during the Spot Bitcoin ETF application process, this time they have been very quiet.

The way the legal process goes is the regulators will give you comments on your application, and that happened for weeks and weeks before the bitcoin ETFs. And right now, pins are dropping as far as Ethereum is concerned.

Jan van Eck, VanEck CEO

Last week the crypto community got excited as the SEC was asking for public commentary on the filings, but was quickly shut down by experts. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart explained that “asking for public comments […] is standard procedure.”

This is seen as something that happens during every ETF filing and this is not indicative of the SEC approving or denying any filing.

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The regulator has until May to approve, deny or delay applications by VanEck and Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, with further applications from companies such as BlackRock and Fidelity lined up all the way to October.

Ethereum dropped by almost 5% in the past 24 hours amid the negative sentiment, and at the time of writing, one ETH sells for US$3,492 (AU$5,270).