Spot ether exchange-traded funds are expected to clear a key regulatory hurdle on Thursday. But the ETFs, if approved, likely won't begin trading until later this summer, according to a new report. 

The report, published Tuesday by Galaxy Digital, predicts spot ether ETFs will be listed on exchanges in July or August. The months-long lag between the funds’ potential approvals and their launches marks a stark contrast to the relatively speedy listings of their bitcoin-based counterparts. 

Regulators must approve two types of filings before shares of spot ether ETFs can change hands: 19b-4s, or proposed rule change forms, and S-1s, or registration statements. 

The Securities Exchange Commission approved several spot bitcoin ETF-related 19b-4s on Jan. 4, just four days before greenlighting issuers’ S-1 filings for the funds. But, for spot ether ETFs, the timeline between the decision-making on those two groups of filings will likely take weeks or months, not days, according to the report. 

Spot ether ETFs have “significantly” greater risk profiles than spot bitcoin ETFs, which could prolong regulators’ decision-making on the funds, Galaxy Digital said in the report. The process for approving the funds and listing them on trading platforms could also take longer due to the variety of decentralized applications built atop the Ethereum network, according to the report. Those dapps, said the researchers, “add a range of possible disclosable [items],” which could make it more difficult for spot ether ETFs to secure the final regulatory approval to begin trading.