U.S. SEC Delays Decision-Making on More Crypto ETFs Led by XRP and Litecoin

• The U.S. SEC has been collecting legal views on the already filed spot crypto ETFs ahead of the final dates later this year.

• Institutional demand for digital assets remains elevated amid anticipated crypto summer.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opted to delay the decision-making on several crypto spot ETFs on Thursday. The agency announced instituting proceedings to collect views from the public on whether to approve or disapprove the proposed rule change to list and trade several crypto spot ETFs on different exchanges.

The delays by the U.S. SEC on Thursday, May 22 included the Bitwise XRP ETF, CoinShares XRP ETF, CoinShares Litecoin ETF, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, and the Fidelity Ethereum Fund to permit in-kind trading. Meanwhile, the U.S. acknowledged the filing of Canary Staked TRX ETF. 

According to James Seyffart, the U.S. SEC will likely continue with delays in decision making on crypto ETFs possibly until the fourth quarter of this year.

“If we’re gonna see early approvals from the SEC on any of these assets, I wouldn’t expect to see them until late June or early July at the absolute earliest. More likely to be in early 4Q,” Seyffart noted.

Market Impact on SEC’s Indecisiveness on Crypto ETFs

The continued delay by the SEC on approving it disapproving the crypto ETFs will likely have an impact on the capital inflows from institutional investors. Furthermore, the low demand for the U.S. securities and bond market has played a crucial role in the cash inflows to crypto investment products led by the ETFs.

Nevertheless, the improved crypto regulatory outlook as depicted by the GENIUS Act in the United States will help attract more institutional investors in the digital asset space ahead. On Thursday, the U.S. President attended the TRUMP memecoin dinner, where he reiterated that his administration will continue to make the country a crypto hub.