The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced a delay in its decision-making process regarding the approval or disapproval of a proposed spot Ethereum Exchange-traded fund (ETF) presented by Invesco and Galaxy Digital. In a notice issued on February 6, the SEC revealed its intent to commence proceedings to determine the fate of the proposed rule changes necessary for the Cboe BZX exchange to list and trade shares of the Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF. This initiation of proceedings includes opening the proposed investment vehicle to public comment, thereby extending the deadline for a decision by an additional 35 days following publication in the Federal Register.
Under this procedural framework, the SEC reserves the option to delay the final decision on the Invesco Galaxy Spot Ether ETF for up to 240 days. The asset manager initially submitted its proposal to the SEC in October 2023, with publication in the Federal Register occurring in November of the same year. This timeline provides the SEC until July 2024 to render a verdict on the approval or denial of the investment vehicle. Since the SEC's groundbreaking approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs on January 10, several asset managers have made efforts to introduce similar investment options for spot Ethereum, including BlackRock, Hashdex, ARK 21Shares, VanEck, and Fidelity.
The SEC's decision to greenlight spot BTC ETFs also involved the approval of 11 other applications concurrently. While some industry experts speculate that the SEC might adopt a similar approach for Ethereum spot investment vehicles, the commission has yet to provide substantial public commentary on the matter. Among the contenders vying for approval, VanEck appears poised to potentially be among the first to receive a decision, with the SEC's deadline set for May 23.
