The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed its decision to approve or reject BlackRock and Fidelity’s spot Ether ETH $3,696 exchange-traded funds (ETFs). 

In separate March 4 filings, the SEC announced that its decision on applications from BlackRock for its iShares Ethereum Trust and Fidelity for its Ethereum Fund will be delayed.

The SEC first delayed its decision on BlackRock’s and Fiedlity’s Ether ETF applications in January, shortly after it approved a roster of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs to go live. The SEC can delay its decision up to three times before making a final decision.

The SEC’s delay hasn’t come as a surprise, with market commentators and ETF analysts long speculating that the SEC will only decide to approve or deny the ETFs once the first final deadline arrives in May.

In an earlier Feb. 7 post to X, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said that May 23 — the final deadline for VanEck’s spot ETH ETF application — is the “only date that matters” when it comes to Ethereum ETFs.

Meanwhile, the price of Ether has continued to be spurred by wider market enthusiasm for potential approval, posting gains of 56.7% in the last month. It was not impacted by today’s SEC delay decision.

At the time of publication, ETH is changing hands for $3,754, up 13% for the week per CoinGecko data.

Not everyone is confident, however, that a spot Ether ETF will be as significant as the spot Bitcoin ETFs — with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF already notching a staggering $10 billion in assets under management alone.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Blachunas said that he and his colleague Seyffart would have formal odds on an ETH ETF approval out soon, however described the yet-to-be-approved funds as “small potatoes” compared to the Bitcoin funds.

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