The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to postpone its decision on Invesco Galaxy’s application for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for spot Ether. The SEC granted itself an additional 60 days to consider the Invesco Galaxy spot Ether (ETH) ETF, with the new deadline set for July 5th. The SEC stated that it needs more time to thoroughly review the proposed rule change and the concerns raised. This delay follows a trend of the SEC postponing decisions on applications from all eight potential Ether ETF issuers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Hashdex, and Ark 21Shares. Analysts had anticipated this outcome. The final deadline for VanEck’s Ether ETF application is May 23rd, which Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart believes is the most significant deadline. In March, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas lowered his odds of the SEC approving the ETFs from 50% to 35%. He cited a lack of communication from the SEC to fund issuers and increasing pushback against SEC Chair Gary Gensler as reasons for the decreased likelihood of approval. Seyffart, who was initially cautiously optimistic about the pending Ether ETF applications, now expects that all applications will be denied by the SEC on May 23rd. However, Ethereum advocate Anthony Sassano remains convinced that the regulator could still approve the funds by VanEck’s final deadline. He points to the SEC’s approval of Ether futures ETF products in 2023 and a meeting between the regulator, Grayscale, and Coinbase as evidence that the SEC may still give the green light to the applications.
SEC delays decision on Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF until July