SEC delays decision on Ethereum cryptocurrency ETF

The US financial regulator is in no rush to support the digital currency sector.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is definitely not a financial institution that values ​​quickly processing cases. This problem especially concerns the issue of applications submitted by entities from the digital currency sector. Currently, the US regulator has made this clear again by announcing that it is delaying the decision to approve or reject an application from the popular company Grayscale for an Ethereum spot price ETF.

The SEC is again delaying the development of the cryptocurrency market

The Securities and Exchange Commission, led by Gary Gensler, said in a statement on Tuesday that it intends to extend the deadline for making a decision on Greyscale's newest exchange-traded fund by as much as 45 days. As a result of this decision, the new deadline is January 25, 2024.

As the regulator currently argues, the safest practice in this type of applications is to set a slightly longer period of time to consider all the most important issues and then consider possible changes to a number of regulations and issues raised in such applications.

It is worth asking ourselves whether we should be surprised by this attitude? Everything indicates that probably not, because the SEC has already delayed a binding decision on the proposed Ethereum spot price ETF, as well as futures contracts for this digital currency, backed by Hashdex.

Battles between Greyscale and SEC

Grayscale filed a special Form 19b-4 with the SEC in October 2023, which is customarily used in cases of attempts to convert financial instruments such as the Grayscale Ethereum Trust into an ETF tracking the spot price of the second largest digital currency by market capitalization.

Currently, financial entities such as BlackRock and Fidelity are also applying for permission to create a similar ETF.