The SEC was dragging its feet once again on May 13 when it delayed verdicts on a bunch of crypto ETF applications. Grayscale’s Solana and Litecoin ETFs were pushed to the back burner with new deadlines of 11 August and 10 October. BlackRock wasn’t spared either. Their request to modify the way redemptions work for their Bitcoin ETF was stonewalled and not with a clear time horizon.
New Filing Acknowledged
While the agency did so quietly, 21Shares filed for a Dogecoin ETF, which initiates the regulatory clock on yet another crypto product. Don’t hold your breath though this simply starts the same agonising waiting game we’ve endured dozens of times already.
Timeline Expectations
Bloomberg’s ETF guys James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas were not surprised by all this. Furthermore, Seyffert basically flicked it off as “expected” most of these products won’t be brought to do or die. Balchunas got to the point, saying nothing dramatic is likely to occur until new SEC Chair Paul Atkins finishes holding staff meetings. In his words: They have been having meetings outside with people. Most likely developing a strategy. After that, likely approvals.”
Regulatory Process
The SEC’s decision-making is a mind-numbing multi-stage process; coupled with Federal Register publications. They usually drag everybody along for 45, 90, 180, and sometimes 240 days, playing every delay tactic that they can think of before making any actual decisions. At this stage, the writing is on the wall, they will maintain this pattern with no ETF. This instalment facing a last call before late Q3, meaning both those that apply andinvestors are twiddling their thumbs.
