Volatility Shares, a financial firm known for its ETF products, has scrapped its plans to launch an Ethereum (ETH) futures ETF on October 2 due to changing market conditions.
Justin Young, the co-founder and president of the company, confirmed this change of plans via email, stating, "You're right - we didn't launch today. We don't see an opportunity at the moment."
When asked if Volatility Shares still intends to launch an ETH futures ETF in the future, Young replied, "Of course," and mentioned that plans are pending.
An Ethereum Futures ETF tracks the price of ETH futures contracts, which are agreements to trade the asset at a specific time and price in the future. These ETFs allow investors to participate in ETH trading without the need to hold the actual cryptocurrency.
Previously, Volatility Shares was positioned as the first company to offer an ETH futures ETF. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was expected to approve the first such product on October 12. However, concerns about an earlier U.S. government shutdown, originally scheduled for October 1, reportedly prompted the SEC to expedite its approval timeline.
As of October 2, several firms have begun trading ETH futures ETFs, including Valkyrie, VanEck, ProShares, and Bitwise. It was expected that digital asset billing would halt during the government shutdown while financial regulators, including the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), would operate with a reduced staff.
In a surprising turn of events, the U.S. government avoided a shutdown by passing a stopgap measure that funds services until November 17. The Senate voted 88-9 in favor of the measure, and U.S. President Joe Biden promptly signed it into law.
