The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to postpone its decisions on BlackRock and Fidelity’s proposals for spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This delay, announced separately on March 4 through filings, means that the SEC will take more time to review BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust and Fidelity’s Ethereum Fund applications.
The SEC first delayed its decision on these Ether ETF applications from BlackRock and Fidelity back in January, shortly after giving the green light to a roster of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs. In fact, the commission has the authority to postpone its decision up to three times before reaching a final verdict.
Market experts and ETF analysts had anticipated this delay, speculating that the SEC would wait until the final deadline in May to either approve or reject these ETFs. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart noted in a February 7 post that May 23, which marks the deadline for VanEck’s spot ETH ETF application, is “the only date that matters.”
SEC just delayed @InvescoUS & @galaxyhq‘s #Ethereum ETF. 100% expected and more delays will continue to happen in coming months.
The only date that matters for spot #ethereum ETFs at this time is May 23rd. Which is @vaneck_us‘s final deadline date pic.twitter.com/gkVZL2QuPK
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) February 6, 2024
Meanwhile, the price of Ether has continued to rise due to broader market optimism regarding potential ETF approval, with gains of 56.7% in the past month. Today’s SEC delay decision did not seem to impact Ether’s price, which is currently trading at $3,754, reflecting a 13% increase for the week according to CoinGecko data.
However, not everyone is convinced that a spot Ether ETF will have the same impact as Bitcoin ETFs. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF alone has already amassed an impressive $10 billion in assets under management. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Blachunas indicated that he and Seyffart would soon provide formal odds on the approval of an ETH ETF, but noted that these yet-to-be-approved funds are comparatively smaller in scale compared to Bitcoin funds.
Yeah @JSeyff and I will have formal odds out soon but tbh and no offense to the eth ppl but this is such small potatoes vs spot bitcoin ETFs. It’s like the opening act coming on after the headliner. Using GenX bands it’s like Sister Hazel trying to follow Nirvana.
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) March 2, 2024