SEC delays decision on Ether staking and XRP ETFs, as analysts expected

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision on Bitwise’s application to add staking to its Ether exchange-traded fund and on Grayscale’s XRP ETF bid, which analysts had expected.

The SEC said on May 20 that it needed to extend its decision on Bitwise’s application by 45 days to “consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein.” The agency needed to either decide or punt its decision by May 22.

The agency also delayed deciding on Grayscale’s XRP (XRP) tracking ETF and Bitwise’s Solana (SOL) tracking fund while it seeks public comments and begins “proceedings to allow for additional analysis” of the proposals to ensure they meet regulatory standards.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said on X that both delays were expected because the SEC “typically takes the full time to respond to a 19b-4 filing.”

“Almost all of these filings have final due dates in October,” and an early decision would be “out of the norm,” Seyffart added. 

“No matter how Crypto-friendly this SEC is. There’s no conspiracy here,” he said.

Seyffart said delays on other spot crypto ETF bids are also expected, and the SEC is likely to delay deciding on Litecoin (LTC) ETFs too.

However, he added, "Litecoin is one that has a higher likelihood vs others of getting approved first.”

“A bunch of XRP ETPs have dates in [the] next few days. If we’re gonna see early approvals from the SEC on any of these assets, I wouldn’t expect to see them until late June or early July at the absolute earliest. More likely to be in early 4Q,” Seyffart said.

SEC dealing with flood of ETF filings 

Several other crypto ETF applications are approaching SEC deadlines in June. The SEC is supposed to decide on Grayscale’s Polkadot (DOT) tracking ETF by June 11 and 21Shares’ Polkadot ETF on June 24, according to an SEC filing.

Related: SEC charges Unicoin crypto platform over alleged $100 million fraud

The SEC received a raft of altcoin ETF filings in the wake of Donald Trump’s election in November and the following resignation of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

The industry saw Gensler’s time at the SEC as an era marked by an aggressive regulatory stance toward crypto, with 100 crypto-related regulatory actions during his tenure from 2021 until his resignation on Jan. 20.

With Genlser’s departure, the SEC is perceived as far more crypto-friendly, with several firms facing legal action from the regulator having had their cases dismissed, including crypto exchange Gemini on Feb. 26 and crypto trading firm Cumberland DRW on March 4.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered