Ethereum Beats Mastercard by Market Cap Ahead of ETH Spot ETFs Approval by the SEC

• Ethereum (ETH) stages a massive rebound as its market cap surpasses that of MasterCard to secure the 26th position on the global asset rankings. 

• According to analysts, this move was triggered by the potential approval of the first spot Ethereum Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) in the US. 

The growing influence and acceptance of Ethereum (ETH) in the global financial system have been confirmed in the latest Odaily data, disclosing the incredible move of the digital asset into the 26th position of the global asset rankings. With a latest market capitalization of $443.8 billion, Ethereum has surpassed several renowned brands including MasterCard which has a market cap of $427.3. 

For context, MasterCard exists as a multinational financial services corporation that has huge prominence within the globe. This implies that the move underscores the impact of blockchain technology on various sectors including finance. Interestingly, this is not the first time the blockchain giant has surpassed MasterCard on this ranking. In 2021, Ethereum surpassed the company with a market cap of $377 billion. At that time, Ether, the native currency of the Ethereum blockchain, had rallied over 50% after gaining momentum from the launch of the London Hard Fork upgrade. 

According to CoinMarketCap data, the recent move to this level of valuation was triggered by the 17% surge of ETH in the last 24 hours. Expectedly, this extends its seven-day run to 25.5% with the asset trading at $3.6k. “

Main Driver Behind the Bullish Reversal of Ethereum (ETH) 

In investigating the principal driver behind this sharp surge, analysts observed that the reaction comes in anticipation of the possible approval of the spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund applications. Recently, Bloomberg analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas increased the chance of approval from 25% to 75% after disclosing that the SEC might be undergoing some political pressure.

Prior to this, there were speculations that the applications would be denied due to a lack of engagement between the ETF issuers and the SEC.

For legal analysts like Scott Johnsson, the SEC might recognize Ethereum as an unregistered security. Contrary to this position, Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital believes that the regulator would recognize Ether as a non-security. However, staked Ether would certainly be flagged as security. 

That would be somewhat congruent with their various court cases, as well as with reports about their various investigations, and perhaps allow SEC to approve Ethereum ETFs while maintaining their previously stated/arguing opinions.

Also, popular crypto analyst, Jake Chervinsky, believes that approval would be “shocking” to everyone he knows in DC. Per his understanding, such a move could signal a major shift in the US crypto policy following the vote of the bipartisan SAB 121. 

Explaining his recent position, Balchunas stated that the reassessment of the odds stems from the recent report that the SEC has instructed exchanges to swiftly update their 19b-4 filings. In this case, the approval could be made by May 22. Having observed this development, analyst Ali Martinez has predicted that the price of ETH could be in line for a massive recovery. Explaining this, Martinez stated that the TD Sequential of ETH discloses a buy signal on its daily chart, falling in line with a $10,000 prediction recently reviewed by Crypto News Flash. 

The TD Sequential presents a buy signal on the #Ethereum daily chart! It anticipates that $ETH could see a rebound of one to four candlesticks.