The enthusiasm for the digital currency market continued to rise this week, fueled by rumours that an Ethereum ETF has been approved. After recording its biggest increase in 18 months on Monday, Ether continued to lead the way on Tuesday, with the biggest intraday increase of 8.6%.

Overnight, Bitcoin soared to around $72,000, then regained gains and remained close to flat at the end of the day. However, it is worth noting that this is the sixth day in a row that a Bitcoin ETF has seen a net inflow of capital.

The media quoted several people familiar with the matter as saying that the US SEC on Monday requested NASDAQ, the Chicago Options Exchange, and the New York Stock Exchange to adjust their Ethereum ETF listing applications, which indicates that the SEC may be ready to approve these applications.

The latest development is that SEC officials require the above exchanges to submit applications by Tuesday at the latest. The SEC, on the other hand, must decide this week whether to approve the Ethereum ETF issued by Vaneck and Ark Investments/21shares.

Although the Ethereum ETF is currently in the first step of the application process, it may have marked that the cryptocurrency industry has achieved such a major and unexpected victory, far exceeding original expectations.

However, it is still unknown where the cryptocurrency industry will go next.

The key “turning point” before prices soared OR the industry began “internal volume”?

First, industry insiders said that the launch of an Ethereum ETF may cause market demand to soar, leading to tight supply of Ether.

Joe Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum and founder of crypto infrastructure company Consensys, said that institutions that have obtained exposure to Bitcoin through newly launched Bitcoin ETFs “probably want to invest in the second approved cryptocurrency ETF in a diversified manner.”

He also believes that “buying Ether through ETFs will put considerable pressure on the market,” and compared to when the Bitcoin ETF was approved in January of this year, the current market supply may be more difficult to meet the strong demand in the market.

In other words, in a situation where supply is tight, the price of ether may be more sensitive to capital inflows, and locked ether cannot be used to meet the new demand for ETFs, which will further cause supply constraints.

More importantly, as trading activity on Ethereum becomes more active, some mechanisms will consume large amounts of existing Ether, “worsening the already tight supply”, thereby driving up the price of Ether. Furthermore, the acceptance of cryptocurrencies by mainstream financial institutions is also increasing significantly, and they hope to be able to invest in cryptocurrencies through ETFs. In this case, the supply crunch for Ethereum ETFs is likely to be even worse.

Lubin said “this is likely to be a critical turning point” for Ether and the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.

However, there are also analytical opinions that the launch of Ethereum ETFs will cause the industry to begin “internal volume.”

Economist and gold enthusiast Peter Schiff warned that the launch of an Ethereum ETF may have a negative impact on spot Bitcoin ETFs and Bitcoin itself, and that market capital will shift from Bitcoin ETFs to Ethereum ETFs.