Ben Strack

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A US litecoin ETF — and other altcoin products — will have to wait at least a little longer.&nbsp;



But the chance such products see the light of day still appears quite good — and issuers continue plotting more crypto ETFs.



The SEC decided on Monday to <a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/sro/nasdaq/2025/34-102988.pdf">delay</a> its ruling on Canary Capital’s proposed spot LTC offering. It requested the following:



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We might not get a ruling until the agency’s final deadline in October.&nbsp;



Prior to the Monday delay filing, Bloomberg Intelligence’s James Seyffart held out hope that we could see a different result, writing on <a href="https://x.com/JSeyff/status/1919159854691713334">X</a> that the “SEC went early &amp; delayed a bunch of filings but not this. If any asset has a chance of early approval it&#8217;s Litecoin IMO.”



You might recall that in February, he and colleague Eric Balchunas <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/litecoin-etf-approval-odds-2025">put the odds</a> of a US spot litecoin ETF launching by the end of 2025 at 90%.&nbsp;



The thinking went that LTC was one of the few assets the SEC had not previously labeled as a security. Also, like bitcoin, litecoin uses the proof-of-work consensus mechanism.&nbsp;



Those 90% odds remain intact, Balchunas noted last week.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Would love to hear directly from Atkins, but all good chance of happening. Here’s our latest odds of approval for all the dif spot ETFs via <a href="https://twitter.com/JSeyff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JSeyff</a> <a href="https://t.co/nLhYJJmO9U">https://t.co/nLhYJJmO9U</a> <a href="https://t.co/4AcJVwhics">pic.twitter.com/4AcJVwhics</a>&mdash; Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricBalchunas/status/1917444433282490606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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The Bloomberg pros also give spot solana products a 90% chance of approval by the year’s end. XRP products are next highest, at 85%.&nbsp;



CME Group introduced SOL futures contracts in March. The derivatives marketplace is set to unveil XRP futures on May 19.&nbsp;



There are also products currently holding both BTC and ETH that want to add more assets. Hashdex CIO Samir Kerbage called indexing “the next frontier” in the crypto investing space, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-media-etf-cryptodotcom">telling me in March</a> that his firm wants to ultimately create “the Nasdaq 100 for crypto.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



With optimism comes more filings.&nbsp;



Canary last week applied for a product that would hold SEI — a token with a market cap of roughly $1 billion (ranking 90th on CoinGecko). It would seek to earn more SEI “through the validation of transactions in the SEI Network’s proof-of-stake process,” the April 30 <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2066353/000199937125005157/sei-s1_042925.htm">filing</a> notes.&nbsp;



Then on May 2, VanEck <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2066824/000206682425000002/vaneckbnbetfs-1.htm">proposed</a> an ETF offering exposure to BNB — the native token of the Binance-created BNB Chain. BNB’s market cap of ~$87 billion is fifth-highest among crypto assets — sitting between XRP (~$123 billion) and SOL (~$74 billion).



Kyle DaCruz, VanEck’s director of digital assets product, previously told me the SEC could wait for legislation — noting that following a framework would be easier than evaluating each crypto asset one by one.



Just when you thought you got away from Washington politics.



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Bloomberg Intelligence

Optimism fuels more crypto ETF filings despite LTC fund delay

<div id="highlights-block_624ca878dc24d" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The Teucrium Bitcoin Futures Fund was filed under the Securities Act of 1933 — the regulation under which spot bitcoin ETFs are filed</li>
 <li>Previous approved bitcoin futures ETFs were filed under the Investment Company Act of 1940</li>
 </ul>
 
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The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to rule on a bitcoin futures ETF proposed by fund group Teucrium this week, and the agency’s decision could have implications for proposed spot bitcoin funds.



The SEC <a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/nysearca/2022/34-94054.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">delayed its decision</a> on the planned <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001471824/000165495421006095/TeucriumBCFU_S1.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Teucrium Bitcoin Futures Fund</a> in January, noting at the time that it would rule on the product by April 8.



The regulator’s decision on the Teucrium fund “could expose the agency to rulemaking violations and strengthen arguments for spot ETFs,” according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts.&nbsp;



ProShares and Valkyrie Investments launched bitcoin ETFs in October after gaining SEC approval. Those funds, filed under the Investment Company Act of 1940, were exempt from the 19b-4 process, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF Analyst James Seyffart said during a Jan. 4 <a href="https://etfprime.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETF Prime podcast</a>, which he said puts the onus on the applicant to allay the concerns of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets.



The <a href="https://teucrium.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Teucrium</a> Bitcoin Futures Fund (BCFU), however, was filed under the Securities Act of 1933 — the regulation under which spot bitcoin ETFs are filed. The SEC has <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/sec-rejects-vanecks-proposed-spot-bitcoin-etf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">denied proposed spot bitcoin ETFs </a>in recent months, citing that bitcoin markets lack surveillance and may be subject to manipulation.



“The SEC&#8217;s view of the market in previous responses indicated it would deny Teucrium&#8217;s fund, but we believe that&#8217;s unlikely now, as rejections could open the agency to Administrative Procedure Act violations,” Seyffart and Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas wrote in a research note. “Conversely, if Teucrium&#8217;s funds are approved, the SEC will have to thread a needle explaining why the CME bitcoin futures market isn&#8217;t of significant size but is good enough for ETFs.”



SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in August that the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-1879/pdf/COMPS-1879.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Investment Company Act of 1940</a> provides “significant investor protections.”



Commonly known as the ’40 Act, its focus is on disclosure to the investing public of information about the fund and its investment objectives, as well as on investment company structure and operations, the SEC’s website states.



Fund group WisdomTree <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/wisdomtree-amends-bitcoin-etf-application/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">amended its Bitcoin Trust</a> in December to include certain requirements of the ’40 Act to the proposed product, such as using US Bank as a qualified custodian and disclosing its portfolio holdings and net asset value per share daily.



Teucrium believes the 1933 Act provides “appropriate investor protections such that disparate regulatory treatment of BCFU versus bitcoin ETFs is not justified,” W. Thomas Conner, a VedderPrice lawyer representing Teucrium, said in a Sept. 1 letter to the SEC.&nbsp;



A Teucrium spokesperson declined to comment.



“The reason folks are interested is that previous comments by Gensler were so clear in mentioning the &#8217;40 Act as the appropriate place for a bitcoin futures product to live,” Dave Nadig, chief investment officer and director of research at ETF Trends and ETF Database, told Blockworks. “I am pretty skeptical they&#8217;ll just let the Teucrium filing go through, and I don&#8217;t really see a huge demand for it if it did.”



Sumit Roy, crypto editor and analyst at ETF.com, said the decision on Teucrium’s proposed product may have implications for what fund structures the SEC looks favorably upon, but won&#8217;t do anything to change the odds of a spot bitcoin ETF coming to market.&nbsp;



“That has less to do with fund structure and more to do with bringing the cryptocurrency industry into the SEC&#8217;s regulatory fold,” Roy said. “There are positive movements on that front, but a spot bitcoin ETF is still a ways away, regardless of what happens with this particular bitcoin futures ETF.”



Seyffart and Balchunas said in a research note last month that they don’t expect the SEC to approve a spot bitcoin ETF <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/is-a-change-to-exchange-definition-key-to-bitcoin-etf-approval/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">until the middle of 2023</a>.



The agency most recently rejected a bitcoin ETF application from fund groups Ark Invest and 21Shares, according to <a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/cboebzx/2022/34-94571.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a March 31 filing</a>.



A spokesperson for Ark Invest did not immediately return a request for comment



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