According to Cointelegraph: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) decision-making process on several Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has been delayed until May 2024. This decision affects multiple ETFs, including Hashdex Nasdaq Ethereum ETF and Grayscale Ethereum Futures ETF. Despite this, the path for Bitcoin (BTC) spot ETFs seems brighter, with some analysts predicting potential approvals as early as 2024.
The Hashdex Ether ETF's specific focus is on holding both spot Ether and futures contracts. On the other hand, Grayscale's Ethereum Futures ETF is viewed as a potentially clever strategy to coax the SEC into permitting Grayscale to convert its Ethereum Trust into a spot Ethereum ETF.
The SEC, however, has not shut the door completely on these ETFs. They've instead initiated proceedings aimed at gathering more public input on their potential listing. This delay also impacts other filings, such as the VanEck spot Ethereum ETF, and ARK Invest and 21Shares' spot Ethereum ETF.
Meanwhile, optimism surrounds the prospects of Bitcoin spot ETFs. Analysts like James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas from Bloomberg anticipate that the SEC may approve a spot Bitcoin ETF as early as January 2024. This hopeful prediction comes despite the rush of ongoing amendments being added to the proposals by the various applicants.
It is predicted that ETF applicants will eventually have to adapt to a cash creation and redemption model for their ETFs to navigate regulatory hurdles successfully.
