Grayscale has surprised everyone by withdrawing its application for an Ether futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) just three weeks before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was due to make a decision on it.
On May 7, the cryptocurrency asset manager filed a notice to withdraw the Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust. The SEC was originally set to make a final decision on the Ether futures ETF on May 30.
If approved, the Ether futures ETF would have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Analyst James Seyffart from Bloomberg initially believed that Grayscale had planned to strategically use the Ether futures ETF as a way to push the SEC into approving its spot Ether ETF. However, he is now confused as to why Grayscale would withdraw its application at this point, especially when the SEC is set to decide on at least one spot Ether ETF application on May 23.
Seyffart and fellow Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas had previously given the spot Ether ETFs a 25% chance of approval on May 23, down from 70% in January. SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s comments in a May 7 interview with CNBC indicate that the SEC is still considering its decision on the spot Ether ETFs.
The SEC has deadlines for various spot Ether ETF applications, with VanEck’s application due on May 23, ARK 21Shares on May 24, and Hashdex on May 30. Applications from Grayscale, Invesco Galaxy, BlackRock, and Fidelity are scheduled for June, July, and August. Industry experts anticipate that the SEC will make a decision on all or most of the applicants in a similar manner to the spot Bitcoin ETFs in January.