Litecoin founder Charlie Lee is optimistic about the approval of a Litecoin (LTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). In a recent interview with Bitcoin Bros, Lee expressed his belief that it’s not a matter of if, but when the ETF will be approved. He sees Litecoin as similar to Bitcoin, which already has multiple spot ETFs trading in the US after receiving SEC approval earlier this year.
Lee points out that Litecoin, like Bitcoin, is a proof-of-work cryptocurrency and could be classified as a commodity by the SEC. This classification would pave the way for a spot ETF for Litecoin, similar to what Bitcoin has.
However, Lee acknowledges that the demand for a Litecoin ETF may not be as high as it was for Bitcoin. He also notes that Ethereum spot ETFs have broader demand compared to LTC, but there could be regulatory hurdles due to Ethereum’s switch from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake.
Ethereum made the transition to PoS with the Merge upgrade in September 2022, and the SEC has been investigating whether Ether is a security since last year. The regulator has delayed decisions on several Ethereum spot ETFs, and there are concerns that these applications may be rejected in May.
Interestingly, spot Ethereum ETFs have been approved for trading in Hong Kong and launched on April 30. While the debut of these ETFs was not as explosive as the BTC ETFs in the US, experts believe there is potential for strong performance in the future.
Overall, Lee remains confident that an LTC ETF will eventually be approved, following in the footsteps of Bitcoin.