The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed a decision on the Grayscale Ethereum futures exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Grayscale Investments filed to the Wall Street regulator back in September. The fund would allow investors to buy shares that bet on the future price of Ethereum (ETH), the second-biggest digital asset by market cap.
But the SEC said today that it would delay the decision. The SEC regularly extends the period it has to give decisions on crypto products.
“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 wrote in its filing.
It currently has a number of spot Bitcoin ETF applications to approve. Lots of high-profile Wall Street firms—including BlackRock—have applied to the regulator to release their own product.
An ETF is a popular investment vehicle that tracks the value of an underlying asset. Investors have been calling for a Bitcoin ETF for the best part of a decade, but the SEC has always said no to approving one, mainly citing concerns around market manipulation.
Ethereum futures ETF first started trading in the U.S. last month when firms ProShares, VanEck, Bitwise, Valkyrie, Kelly, and Volshares collectively debuted a total of nine products on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE).
Grayscale has clashed with the SEC over its application to turn its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF.
Grayscale sued the SEC in June for denying its application; a judge then in August ordered that the SEC’s denial of Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETF application be reviewed, essentially siding with the firm.
Grayscale also filed in October to turn its Ethereum trust into an ETF.
Analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence have since said there is a 90% chance the U.S. market will have a Bitcoin ETF by January 10.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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Source: https://decrypt.co/206212/sec-needs-more-time-on-grayscale-ethereum-futures-etf
