The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday delayed a decision on a spot ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) jointly proposed by Invesco and Galaxy Digital, a filing shows.

The proposed product would allow professional investors to directly gain exposure to spot ether. Currently, ether futures listed on CME are one of the only ways for regulated U.S. investors and funds to bet on Ethereum’s growth.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart said the delay decision was in line with expectations.

“100% expected, and more delays will continue to happen in coming months,” Seyffart said. “The only date that matters for spot #ethereum ETFs at this time is May 23. Which is @vaneck_us's final deadline date.”

In January, the SEC delayed an application by Grayscale Investments to convert its Ethereum trust product (ETHE) into an ETF. It also delayed a decision on BlackRock’s application for an ether ETF.

As such, financial giants expect ether to rise as much as 70% in the coming months as ETF applications are expected to be approved in May.

“Heading into the expected approval date on May 23, we expect ETH prices to track, or outperform, bitcoin (BTC) during the comparable period," a Standard Chartered Bank said in a January note.

ETH was the biggest gainer among majors in the past 24 hours with a 2.2% rise, data shows.

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