The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed the applications of Hashdex and Ark 21Shares for an ETH Spot ETF. This is according to official documents from the U.S. securities regulator. The authority needs more time to review the application for regulatory requirements, particularly compliance with the Securities Exchange Act.

The SEC must make a final decision on the two applications by May 24 (Ark 21Shares) and May 30 (Hashdex).

According to Bloomberg analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas, however, approval is unlikely. "We now assume that these [ETH ETFs] will ultimately be rejected on May 23. The SEC has not had conversations with issuers about the specifics of Ethereum," Seyffart said in a post on X.

Should add. These were always going to be delay orders. The only deadline that matters is May 23rd. This has always been the case: https://t.co/4EfbTidiXc
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) March 19, 2024

In the case of Bitcoin Spot ETFs, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was more communicative and sought dialogue with applicants before approving all applications in January.

One reason for the SEC's silence could be the authority's critical attitude toward Ethereum. After all, the SEC believes that ETH could still be classified as a security.

ETF speculation is hitting the price of Ethereum particularly hard. After ETH traded at more than USD 4,000 a few weeks ago, the second-largest cryptocurrency now stands at USD 3,152. This means ETH has fallen by a total of 22 percent in seven days.