SEC delays making a decision on Franklin Templeton's spot Ethereum ETF

Policy • April 23, 2024, 12:13PM EDT

Published 1 minute earlier on

Quick Take

The agency pushed its timeline to make a decision to June 11, 2024, after which the SEC could approve or disapprove or institute proceedings.
Optimism for a spot Ethereum ETF has fallen over the past few months.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is delaying making a decision on the next steps for investment firm Franklin Templeton's spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund.

The agency pushed its timeline to decide to June 11, 2024, after which the SEC could approve or disapprove or institute proceedings, the SEC said in a filing on Tuesday.

"The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which 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," the SEC said.

Franklin Templeton filed its S-1 registration statement for the Franklin Ethereum ETF in February. The fund would generally reflect the price of ether and Coinbase Custody Trust Company and the Bank of New York Mellon would be the custodians, the firm said.

The SEC has delayed decisions on applications for other Ethereum ETFs including VanEck's spot Ethereum ETF and one from BlackRock.

Big-name firms, including Fidelity and BlackRock, have applied for a spot ether ETF over the last few months. Optimism for the SEC approving such a product has steadily fallen over the past few months. For example, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has lowered his estimate of the chances of a spot Ethereum ETF approval by May from about 70% to 30%.

Since being listed in January 2024, U.S.-traded spot bitcoin ETFs have brought in a cumulative total net inflow of $12.38 billion, The Block previously reported.

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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.