SEC delays decision on Grayscale's Ethereum Futures Trust ETF, again

Policy • March 22, 2024, 7:41PM EDT

Published 1 minute earlier on

Quick Take

In a document filed late on Friday, the SEC said it would take until May 30, 2024, to decide whether to approve Grayscale’s Ethereum futures ETF.
Separately, the crypto industry has been focused on a spot ether ETF which gives investors exposure to the cryptocurrency without needing to directly purchase or hold the asset.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is again delaying making a decision on whether to approve of the proposed Grayscale Ethereum ETH -5.12% Futures Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to a recent filing.

In a document filed late on Friday, the SEC said it would take until May 30, 2024, to decide whether to approve of Grayscale's ether futures ETF.

"The Commission finds that it is appropriate to designate a longer period within which to issue an order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein," the agency said in the filing.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said the delay was expected, in a post on X.

Seyffart has previously said that Grayscale is playing chess, not checkers as a way to get the SEC to eventually approve of a spot Ethereum ETF.

"I doubt Grayscale even intends to launch this. It's nothing but a trojan horse to get a 19b-4 order from the SEC," Seyffart said in November on X. "And watch them try to either approve and argue why this is different from spot. Or Deny and argue why 1933 act products are meaningfully different from 1940 act products. Both are bad for SEC IMO. Genius move IMO."

The agency previously delayed its time to consider Grayscale's ether futures ETF a few times — most recently in December when it asked for public comments.

Yet the SEC previously greenlit a batch of ether futures ETFs in October 2023, including from ProShares, VanEck and Bitwise.

Spot ether ETFs

The crypto industry has been focused on a spot ether ETF which gives investors exposure to the cryptocurrency without needing to directly purchase or hold the asset.

Leading financial institutions, such as Fidelity and BlackRock, have applied for the spot product over the past few months. Optimism for the SEC approving such a product has since dwindled over the past few weeks. Another Bloomberg ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas, recently dropped his estimate of the chances of a spot Ethereum ETF approval by May from about 70 percent to 30 percent.

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About Author

Sarah is a reporter at The Block covering policy, regulation and legal happenings. Before, Sarah was a reporter with CQ Legal writing about securities regulation, which is where she first started reporting on crypto. Sarah has also written for The Bond Buyer and American Banker, among other finance-related publications. She graduated from the University of Missouri and earned a degree in print and digital journalism. Sarah is based in Washington D.C., and is an avid coffee lover. You can follow her on Twitter @ForTheWynn.