{"id":4123,"date":"2024-12-12T15:01:39","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T15:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=4123"},"modified":"2024-12-12T15:01:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T15:01:39","slug":"microsoft-may-be-open-to-ethereum-etf-if-this-happens-says-vaneck-exec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=4123","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft May Be \u2018Open\u2019 To Ethereum ETF If This Happens, Says VanEck Exec"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In a post on X, Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at investment management firm VanEck, suggested that Microsoft may be open to invest in an Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) if it fulfills the company\u2019s yield requirements. Sigel remarked<\/a> that it \u201csounds to [him] like MSFT is open to an ETH ETF as long as they can collect staking income.\u201d<\/p>\n

Microsoft Open To Spot Ethereum ETFs?<\/h2>\n

This interpretation came after Amy Hood, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Microsoft, reiterated the company\u2019s long standing engagement with digital assets. While not specifically referencing ETH, Hood noted that Microsoft began accepting cryptocurrency as payment from customers in 2014 and has continued doing so ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to step back and realize that almost a decade ago, actually maybe a little over, we first started accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment from our customers, and that was in 2014. And we continue to do that today. We were amongst one of the very early companies to realize and accept this after listening to customers,\u201d Hood said.<\/p>\n

According to her, the treasury team regularly reviews all available asset classes with an eye on three key factors that influence future decisions. \u201cOur treasury team, along with reviews with the Board of Directors, looks at all the asset classes available to us. It\u2019s important to remember our criteria and our goals of our balance sheet and for the cash balances, importantly, is to preserve capital, to allow a lot of liquidity to be able to fund our operations and partnerships and investments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hood indicated that digital assets are \u201csomething we cover with our Board consistently\u201d as Microsoft gauges whether any given category meets its strategic goals. \u201cSo with those three goals, we look across asset classes, including cryptocurrency as a form of investment. It\u2019s something we cover with our Board consistently and continue to assess different categories year to year if our goals were to change,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Sigel\u2019s inference that Microsoft could lean toward ETH-based products rests on three points: the company\u2019s early acceptance of crypto as a payment method, an ongoing evaluation of digital assets at the board level, and the role yield generation could play in any investment choice. Sigel stated:<\/p>\n

\n

1) They accept crypto and believe in its utility.<\/strong>
\n2) The board has already and will continue to evaluate digital assets for the reserve.<\/strong>
\n3) If the asset has a yield = higher chance of MSFT buying it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, not everyone found this conclusion airtight. One Ethereum community member questioned Sigel\u2019s reading of Hood\u2019s remarks, calling it a \u201cleap\u201d to assume Microsoft might buy ETH ETFs, though conceding it remains \u201cpossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked whether Microsoft might also consider Solana (SOL), Sigel responded succinctly, \u201cYes.\u201d VanEck itself has experience in the altcoin ETF space, offering a spot Ethereum ETF and having filed<\/a> an application in June with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a spot Solana ETF. With the incoming Trump administration, experts believe that spot altcoin ETFs like Solana are highly likely to be approved under the new SEC Chairman Paul Atkins.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Microsoft recently turned down<\/a> a different crypto-related proposal. According to a prior report from Bitcoinist, a group of shareholders urged the tech giant to include Bitcoin as a reserve asset. That proposal, voted on December 10, failed to gain traction\u2014only 0.55% of shareholders supported it, and the majority effectively rejected the notion of adding BTC to Microsoft\u2019s balance sheet.<\/p>\n

Notably, the US SEC approved<\/a> the first spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on June 23 this year. One key factor for the approval was the removal of staking features in response to the agency\u2019s concerns about the potential classification of staking as an unregistered security.<\/p>\n

At press time, ETH traded at $3,931.<\/p>\n

\"Ethereum<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a post on X, Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at investment management firm VanEck, suggested that Microsoft may be open to invest in an Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) if it fulfills the company\u2019s yield requirements. Sigel remarked that it \u201csounds to [him] like MSFT is open to an ETH ETF as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-4123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}