- The contentious Ethereum custody service was soft-launched by the digital assets platform on May 17 and is scheduled for a full debut the following month.
Prometheum, a company that trades and holds digital assets, is said to have soft-launched its contentious Ether (ETH) custody service, which views digital assets like securities.
A Fortune report dated May 20 states that the custody solution was made available to a small number of firms on May 17. A complete rollout is anticipated in June.
Prometheum intends to expand to retail clients later in 2024, first focusing its services on asset management firms, banks, hedge funds, and registered investment advisors.
In June of last year, Prometheum gained notoriety when its co-founder and co-CEO, Aaron Kaplan, went before a US House Committee and appeared to favor the regulation of cryptocurrencies under existing securities rules. The Securities and Exchange Commission likewise holds this perspective.
Prometheum faced backlash from the cryptocurrency community in February when it hinted that it would consider Ether as a security when it introduced custodial services on its platform later that year.
One of the firm’s CEOs, Aaron Kaplan, noted that it removes many of the reasons that things can’t be done under the laws that are in place.
But since then, rumors have circulated claiming that the SEC is requesting that applicants expedite their 19b-4 submissions, which has rekindled optimism.
As a result, Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart, Bloomberg ETF analysts, increased their projected probabilities of a spot Ether ETF approval from 25% to 75%.
Prometheum, which was established in 2017 by brothers Aaron and Benjamin Kaplan, was mostly unknown until June 2023, when it obtained a broker-dealer license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the SEC.
But the introduction of Prometheum’s Ethereum custody service may now strain relations between the SEC and the American commodities regulator.
Long classifying Ether as a commodity, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission issued a warning in March stating that the introduction of such a product would directly violate U.S. financial market regulations.
CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam stated at the time that this would essentially put our registrants and exchanges that offer Ether as a futures product in violation of SEC regulations rather than CFTC regulations.
Disclaimer : This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
