Why The World’s Largest Bank Called Ethereum (ETH) Digital Oil

The world’s largest bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) recently tagged Ethereum (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization “digital oil.”

ETH Supports Smart Contracts and DApps

The top financial institution commended the growth and advancement that both Ethereum and Bitcoin (BTC) has registered over the years. It compared BTC to gold, citing that it “retains the scarcity similar to gold through mathematical consensus while solving [gold’s] problem of being difficult to divide, difficult to identify authenticity, and inconvenient to carry.”

Next, ICBC named Ethereum as digital oil, citing its crucial role in serving as a strong support to numerous Web3.0 innovations including the launch of stablecoins.

“Ethereum has been continuously upgrading its technology in terms of security, scalability and sustainability, providing technical power for the digital future. In addition, the introduction and development of stablecoins provide a bridge for the digital currency market to connect to the real world,” ICBC highlighted.

The bank acknowledged the fact that Ethereum has its programming language known as Solidity but more importantly, ICBC highlighted how the network supports developers. Per the bank’s published statement, ETH allows developers to deploy complex smart contracts as well as Decentralized Applications (DApps). ICBC believes strongly that this has made Ethereum the mainstay in inventive new fields like Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Furthermore, the top China-based bank sees this sentiment transcending gradually to the physical infrastructure network.

Community Awaits Final Approval For spot Ethereum ETF 

ICBC’s endorsement for the altcoin comes while the crypto industry is waiting for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to finally approve spot Ethereum ETF trading. The regulator has requested the submission of amended and updated S-1 registration from all Ethereum ETF applicants.

Last week, Gary Gensler, the SEC Chairman hinted at the possibility of a slow process for the final spot Ethereum ETF trading approval. In his words, the approval of the necessary S-1 forms “will take some time.”

It is worthy of note that after the submission of the S-1 applications, the Commission would provide filers with its first feedback which will in turn prompt more changes to be made. Some sources familiar with the process noted that this iterative process may take several weeks with expectation of some SEC feedback this week.

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