Grayscale Investments and Bitwise Asset Management, two prominent crypto asset managers, have halted their plans to launch an Ether futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) due to heightened regulatory scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Grayscale has made amendments to its SEC filing by removing any references to an Ether futures ETF. This decision comes after the SEC requested the withdrawal of Grayscale’s registration statement for Filecoin Trust. In the meantime, Grayscale has announced the introduction of a semi-spot Bitcoin ETF and a privacy-focused ETF.
Similarly, Bitwise Asset Management has also withdrawn its application for an ETF based on Ethereum futures. The successful launch of a Bitcoin futures ETF in late 2021 had raised hopes for the approval of a spot crypto ETF. However, regulatory challenges and increased scrutiny have made regulators cautious about granting such approvals.
