CLAIM: SEC Allegedly Delays Grayscale’s Ethereum Futures ETF Application

According to breaking information, the SEC decided to postpone the decision day on the Ethereum Futures ETF for which Grayscale applied.

Grayscale made the application in question on September 20, 2023.

The application was made pursuant to the provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the rule amendment filed by the NYSE with the SEC. The ETF will be managed by Grayscale Advisors, which is also referred to as a “sponsor” in the filing.

The SEC had previously approved Ethereum Futures ETFs. This ETF application was also expected to be approved, but the institution decided to postpone it.

Grayscale had won a major, albeit partial, victory against the SEC in its efforts to convert the publicly traded Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin ETF. However, GBTC has not yet become a Bitcoin Spot ETF and no Bitcoin Spot ETF has yet received approval from the SEC.

Regarding the postponement of Grayscale’s Ethereum Futures ETF decision, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said:

“The decision on the Grayscale Ethereum futures 19b-4 application has been postponed. There’s nothing remotely surprising about this. They had also filed separately to convert ETHE into an ETF.

I actually wasn’t sure why they made such an application at first. But over the last few weeks my thoughts have changed and basically come down to this:

Grayscale is playing chess here, not checkers. They likely hope to force the SEC to issue a 19b-4 decision on the ETH futures ETF. They’re probably setting this up in a similar way that the won Grayscale case heavily used the Teucrium ETFs/Hashdex 19b-4 decision to point out the SEC’s hypocrisy in deciding between futures and spot.

Not all existing ETH Futures ETFs have been approved under this process, and there is no SEC decision process they can fall back on if the SEC rejects spot ETH ETFs in 2024. “A 19b-4 futures ETF approval document would set the stage for another battle in court, likely a near-repeat of GBTC’s lawsuit.”

*This is not investment advice.