The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has extended the deadline for a decision on Fidelity's proposed Spot Ethereum ETF to March 5th.
According to Thursday filingthe SEC specified a “longer period for taking action on proposed rule changes” in order to have “sufficient time to consider the proposed rule changes and the issues raised therein.” “We have determined that this is appropriate.”
James Seifert, ETF Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence Said He said the postponement was “totally expected” and added: “The really important date is late May in my opinion.”
Fidelity filed for a Spot Ethereum ETF in November 2023, joining BlackRock, Ark Invest/21Shares, VanEck, and others.
Seifert’s colleague Eric Balciunas expressed confidence earlier this month that an Ethereum ETF would be approved in 2024, noting there was a 70% chance of approval by May. Balchunas said on Rag Radio's FOMO Hour that SEC pre-approval of Ethereum futures ETF puts regulators in trouble as Bitcoin futures ETF approval issues court order to review Grayscale's Spot Bitcoin ETF application He said he was chased.
The SEC approved multiple Spot Bitcoin ETF applications last week, with Chairman Gary Gensler acknowledging that the situation has “changed” following the court order.
“Obviously, we have to approve Etherspot.” [ETF]Otherwise, we will be sued again for exactly the same reasons,” Balciunas said during an appearance on LagRadio late last week.
in him statement Following the approval of the Spot Bitcoin ETF, SEC Chairman Gensler said, “The Commission’s action today is directed at ETPs that hold one of Bitcoin, which is a non-securities product.” “That in no way suggests the commission's willingness to approve the listing standards,” he said. For crypto-asset securities. Gensler added, “This approval also does not imply anything about the Commission's views regarding the status of other cryptoassets under the federal securities laws.”
During his tenure as SEC chairman, Gensler has repeatedly declined to clarify whether the regulator is considering: Ethereum securities or products.
Before joining the regulator, while teaching a course on blockchain at MIT, Gensler said that in the eyes of the SEC, Ethereum is “not a security” and that the cryptocurrency is “well decentralized.” He pointed out that the SEC considers this to be the case. get a qualification.Gensler seemed to echo the views of the SEC's former head of the Division of Corporate Finance. William Hinman In his oft-quoted “enough decentralization” speech in June 2018.
Gensler’s fellow regulator Rostin Behnam, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), expressed the view that Ethereum should be considered a commodity.
