The journey towards approval of an ethereum ETF in the United States saw a new development yesterday, as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a delay in the decision for the conversion of Grayscale's ethereum trust in a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). . The SEC has stated the need for an extended period to evaluate the proposed rule change, pushing back the new Grayscale deadline to January 25, 2024.
In its reasoning, the SEC has reiterated: “The commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period to take action on the proposed rule change, so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein.” Notably, the delay comes at a time when the US agency is working with 13 bitcoin spot ETF applicants on presumably final amendments ahead of the January 10 approval.
Timeline for ethereum Spot ETF Approval
Despite the latest delay, the crypto community remains optimistic about the future of ethereum spot ETFs. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart suggested the delays are normal, tweeting: “Update: As expected, Grayscale’s ethereum trust filing has just been delayed. It was due on 12/6/23, so this is completely normal.”
Seyffart also shared a table of the seven one-time ethereum ETF applicants: VanEck, 21Shares & ARK, Hashdex, Grayscale, Invesco & Galaxy, BlackRock, Fidelity and their deadlines. he also implied about possible approvals by mid-2024, responding to criticism from Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, with “Unfortunately, I think you'll be really upset in June of next year.”
In response to questions about the likelihood of an ethereum ETF being approved after a bitcoin ETF, Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas has indicated that early contributors Ark and VanEck have strong chances of approval before their final deadline on May 23, 2024, as is. It is expected to use the same mechanics as spot bitcoin ETFs, and due to the fact that Ether futures have already received the green light from the US SEC.
When asked about the likelihood of a timely approval of the ethereum ETF, he responded commented“Not formally yet, but the final deadline for the first contributors, Ark and VanEck, is May 23, so there is a good chance they will have approved by then, given that they would use the same design as the btc etfs and ether futures, they were fine.”
The next deadlines
Seyffart's chart shows that the next deadlines for the ethereum ETF are December 23-26 for VanEck, Ark Invest, and Invesco & Galaxy, followed by Hashdex on January 1. Since it is highly unlikely that a spot bitcoin ETF will be approved by then, SEC delays are more than likely for this batch of filings.
Both BlackRock's iShares and Fidelity ethereum Fund have their next deadlines on January 25 and 21, 2024, respectively. These dates are crucial as they could involve an extension, a request for more information or a final decision.
But things only get really tense towards the final deadlines for all ethereum ETF applicants, as described by both Bloomberg ETF experts. With VanEck set for May 23, 2024 and ARK Invest for May 24, 2024 and other notable contributors like Hashdex Nasdaq ethereum ETF and Grayscale's ethereum Trust Conversion (ETHE) scheduled to make decisions by May 30, 2024 and the June 18, 2024, respectively. , the timeline for possible approvals is taking shape.
At press time, eth was trading at $2,271.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com
