Cathie Wood's ARK and 21Shares plan America's first ether ETF as race to open spot bitcoin funds heats up

• Cathie Wood's Ark fund and 21Shares are planning America's first spot ether ETF.
• They filed an SEC application Wednesday as a race to create spot bitcoin ETFs gets underway.

Cathie Wood's Ark fund and 21Shares want to set up America's first spot ether ETF, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed.

Dubbed the ARK 21Shares Etherum ETF, the filing comes as a race to launch the first exchange-traded fund backed by bitcoin gathers pace.

"The Trust provides investors with the opportunity to access the market for ether through a traditional brokerage account without the potential barriers to entry or risks involved with holding or transferring ether directly or acquiring it from an ether spot market," the filing stated.

Financial behemoths like BlackRock and Fidelity have been working on SEC applications for their own bitcoin ETFs.

There's been progress among companies to launch bitcoin ETFs, especially after Grayscale Investments won its court case against the SEC on Tuesday. Many regard that decision as helping pave the way for spot bitcoin ETFs.

Last year Grayscale sued the SEC after it rejected an application to turn its bitcoin trust into an ETF.

ARK and 21Shares have also submitted an SEC application for a bitcoin spot ETF.

"There's been so much regulatory controversy about a bitcoin spot ETF that I guess many people thought it was a step too far — but we don't," ARK's Wood told Bloomberg. "And it's always nice to be first."

"If you look at the state of ethereum markets today, especially around things like the futures products, you're starting to get to a place where those markets are much more established," 21Shares' co-founder Ophelia Snyder told the outlet.

SEC approval for crypto-backed ETFs could boost demand for bitcoin, and its price, Fundstrat has said.