Grayscale has withdrawn its 19b-4 application for an Ether futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) just three weeks before the securities regulator is forced to decide on it.
The cryptocurrency asset manager filed a notice of withdrawal for the Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 7.
The SEC was scheduled to decide on Grayscale’s Ether (ETH) futures ETF on May 30.
Grayscale initially filed its 19b-4 application for an Ether futures ETF on Sept. 19, 2023, which would have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange had it been approved.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart initially believed that Grayscale planned to strategically use its Ether futures ETF as a “trojan horse” to corner the SEC into approving its spot Ether ETF.
However, he expressed confusion as to why Grayscale would withdraw now, when the SEC will be forced to make a decision to approve or deny at least one spot Ether ETF application on May 23, a little over two weeks away.
Related: SEC will classify Ether as security, deny spot Ether ETFs — Michael Saylor
For several months, Seyffart and fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas have held a 25% chance the spot Ether ETFs will be approved on May 23, down from 70% in January.
Grayscale’s withdrawal didn’t seem to impact these odds.
But Seyffart claims there’s now “no way” for Grayscale to sue should the SEC knock back its spot Ether ETF application.
That said, comments from SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a May 7 interview with CNBC suggest the SEC is still weighing up its decision on the spot Ether ETF applications.
“That’s something in front of our commission right now. We’re a five-member Commission, and those filings will take up at the appropriate time.”
The SEC must make its decision on VanEck's application on May 23, while ARK 21Shares and Hashdex have final deadlines on May 24 and May 30.
Grayscale, Invesco Galaxy, BlackRock and Fidelity applications must be made in June, July and August. However, many industry pundits expect the securities regulator to decide on all or most applicants as it did with the spot Bitcoin ETFs in January.
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