SEC again delays decision on spot Ethereum ETF options

As a seasoned researcher with over two decades of experience in the financial markets, I find myself intrigued by the latest developments surrounding the SEC’s decision on Ethereum ETF options. The continuous postponement of this ruling is reminiscent of a game of cat and mouse, where the SEC seems to be the ever-elusive cat, keeping us all guessing.


According to a recent filing dated October 11th, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed making a decision about whether an exchange can list Ether (ETH) ETFs that offer options trading.

According to the filing, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed making a decision about allowing Cboe Exchange to list Ethereum (ETH) options that correspond to well-known ETH investment funds.

The agency’s decision on this matter has been rescheduled from October 19th to December 3rd, as indicated in the submitted documents.

SEC again delays decision on spot Ethereum ETF options

In August, Cboe applied for SEC approval to list options for a variety of ETFs, such as the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF from BlackRock, Fidelity’s Ethereum Fund, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, and the Mini Ethereum Trust from Grayscale, along with some others.

In September, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) postponed a comparable rule modification that Nasdaq’s electronic platform was seeking, aimed at allowing the listing of options for iShares Ethereum Trust.

On September 20th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted approval for Nasdaq to offer investment options based on BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, known as the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).

Before being listed, the Bitcoin options are waiting for approval from both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC).

According to James Seyffart, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, it is expected that Bitcoin ETF options will be introduced in the U.S. market as early as Q1 2025.

As a researcher, I expressed on October 9th that it’s feasible to expect certain developments by the end of this year; however, it seems more probable that they will occur during the first quarter of 2025.

SEC again delays decision on spot Ethereum ETF options

In simpler terms, options are agreements that give someone the right to either buy or sell a specific asset at a predetermined price. If one party in the U.S. doesn’t fulfill their end of the deal, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency steps in and resolves the transaction.

Moving cryptocurrency options to regulated American exchanges supervised by the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), which protects traders from counterparty risk, represents a “significant progression” within the crypto market and offers “exceptionally attractive prospects” for investors, as stated by Jeff Park, head of alpha strategies at Bitwise Invest, in a post on September 20.

Financial advisors, who oversee nearly half of the investments in the $9 trillion ETF market, often employ options as a protective measure against sudden market fluctuations. A survey by The Journal of Financial Planning reported that more than 10% of these advisors were actively using options to manage their clients’ portfolios by 2023.

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2024-10-13 19:20