Published on March 19, 2024 12:42 GMT+00:00edited on March 19, 2024 12:44 GMT+00:00

While there has been a lot of speculation and desire for spot ether ETFs to gain approval in May, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said it might be beneficial for it to move more slowly.

"I'll take a maybe controversial view: I hope we don’t get an Ethereum ETF in May," Hougan said on a panel about bitcoin ETFs at the Digital Asset Conference in London. "I actually sort of want it to be later."

May is the first main deadline for the SEC to approve or deny the first pending spot ether ETF applications. Initially, pundits were optimistic about the deadline, but recently many analysts have lowered their expectations for it to launch by May due to a seeming lack of progress.

Hougan explained that he believes spot ether ETFs would attract more assets if they were to launch in December instead of May.