SEC delays decision on Fidelity's proposed spot Ethereum ETF to March

The Securities and Exchange Commission delayed its deadline to make a decision on Fidelity's proposal for a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund until March 5, according to a filing on Thursday.

"The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein," the SEC said.

Fidelity applied for the Fidelity Ethereum Fund in November, noting in its proposal a court ruling last year where judges said the SEC failed to find a coherent reason on why it should reject spot crypto ETFs when it had allowed futures-based products.

The SEC will now have more time to decide whether to approve, disapprove or institute proceedings. 

Delay had been expected

Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart said the SEC's move to delay was expected.

"Fidelity #ethereum ETF delayed just now. Completely expected. Dates that really matter are late May in my view,"  Seyffart wrote in a post on X.

The SEC last week authorized 11 spot bitcoin ETFs to begin trading, sparking some in the industry to wonder if a spot Ethereum ETF is next. 

Fidelity joined fellow giant BlackRock late last year in the race for a spot Ethereum ETF. A month before those firms applied for the spot products, ether futures ETFs went live.

"The fact that they allowed listing of the futures based ETFs is enough to say they are thinking about ether the same way they are thinking about bitcoin and you can infer from that they're probably thinking it's not a security and not going to regulate it that way," Stuart Barton, co-founder at Volatility Shares, said last week.