U.S. regulators have given final approval for spot exchange-traded funds that hold Ethereum's ether (ETH), giving Americans access to a second major cryptocurrency via the easy-to-trade vehicles.

The decision caps a years-long process to get ether ETFs approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission and follows the regulator's approval of bitcoin (BTC) ETFs in January. Packaging ether in an ETF wrapper could make them more palatable to conventional investors since the funds can be bought and sold through traditional brokerage accounts. Since their debut in January, bitcoin ETFs have attracted tens of billions of dollars of investment.

Approval did not seem certain just weeks ago. But in late May, SEC officials abruptly began engaging with wannabe ETF issuers after a long silence. Then, on May 23, the regulator approved a key filing, opening up a pathway to full approval through the latest decision.

"We've now fully entered the ETF era of crypto," Matt Hougan, chief investment office at Bitwise, said. "Investors can now access more than 70% of the liquid crypto asset market through low-cost ETPs."

"Being the first to file for an Ethereum ETF back in 2021, we have long believed investors should have access to Ethereum exposure in a vehicle they find accessible and familiar," said Kyle DaCruz, head of digital assets at VanEck. "If Bitcoin is digital gold, then Ethereum is the open-source App Store and the gateway for exposure to the thousands of applications that will utilize blockchain technology."

Read more: Ethereum ETFs Could See Underwhelming Demand, Two Research Firms Predict

The approval and beginning of trading of the spot bitcoin ETFs in January, which became the most successful launch in the history of exchange-traded products in terms of the speed of money rushing into them, pushed the price of the largest cryptocurrency up to new all-time highs after surging more than 58% within just two months.

Some analysts predict that while a spot ETH ETF could move the price of ether up to $6,500, inflows into those funds won't be nearly as high as for their bitcoin-focused counterparts.

Research firm Steno Research predicts that the newly launched ETFs could see $15 billion to $20 billion worth of inflows in the first year which is roughly the same that the spot bitcoin ETFs have taken in in just seven months. Ethereum doesn't have the "first-mover advantage" that bitcoin had and it lacks a strong narrative such as bitcoin's "digital gold" belief among many supporters, a report by the firm stated.

UPDATE (July 22, 2024, 21:35 UTC): Adds comments from issuers.