SEC delays decision on options trading for BlackRock and Bitwise spot Ethereum ETFs

Despite approving options trading for IBIT on Sept. 20, the regulator claimed it needs more time to consider the decision on Ethereum ETFs.

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed its decision to allow options trading for BlackRock and Bitwise’s spot Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) until mid-November, according to Sept. 24 filings.

The new deadlines for BlackRock and Bitwise are Nov. 10 and Nov. 11, respectively. The SEC stated it needed more time to consider the proposal and extended the initial 45-day review period that would have ended on Sept. 26 for BlackRock since Nasdaq filed for the rule change for the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF on July 22.

The same reasoning was applied to Bitwise’s ETHW, which had its decision date delayed to Nov. 11 since the proposed rule change was filed one day after BlackRock’s.

Options are a big deal for crypto ETFs

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) received clearance for options trading from the SEC on Sept. 20.

Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said this was a “huge win” for Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs, as it will attract more liquidity and, consequently, more “big fish.”

Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, also shared a report by K33 Research on Sept. 24, which highlighted that Bitcoin’s derivatives market is 279x smaller than its equity and commodity counterparts.

Notably, the Bitcoin options volume traded on the top five centralized crypto exchanges was equivalent to roughly $33.3 billion between Sept. 1 and Sept. 22.

Meanwhile, Ethereum options’ volume in the same period amounted to just $9.2 billion, over three times smaller than Bitcoin’s. Thus, Ethereum ETFs have even more room for growth with the addition of options trading by the SEC.

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