The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed giving a decision on spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposals from both Grayscale Investments and Wall Street giant Franklin Templeton.
In two Tuesday filings, the regulator said it would need more time to review the proposals from the top fund managers.
The two firms—and a number of other fund managers—are hoping to get the green light from the SEC so their investment vehicles can start trading on American stock exchanges.
Grayscale filed an application with the SEC to convert its Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) into a spot ETH ETF back in October; Franklin Templeton entered the race back in February by filing an S1 form with the regulator.
The SEC approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs back in January, allowing them to trade after a decade of denials. The investment vehicles now trade on stock exchanges and give traditional investors the ability to buy shares that track the price of the cryptocurrency.
They have been massively successful, notching huge inflows in just months. Now, top fund managers want to release an investment vehicle that would give investors exposure to ETH, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
But industry analysts have since said that the regulator's approval of the products is not looking likely for the May deadline.
Investment bank JP Morgan said earlier this month that there was "no more than a 50% chance of spot Ethereum ETF approval by May," adding that that if an Ethereum ETF doesn't get approved by next month's deadline, applicants will take action against the regulator.
Edited by Andrew Hayward