TL;DR

• Grayscale just withdrew their Ethereum futures ETF application, meaning there will be no court case against the SEC (which was the thing that previously unlocked the BTC spot ETFs to be approved).

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We all know the classic story of the Trojan horse.

The one where the Greeks gifted a huge wooden horse to the city of Troy filled with soldiers who jumped out of it once they were in Troy’s walls and overtook the city.

Well, that same sort of tactic was used by Grayscale to get the BTC spot ETFs approved.

Back in August last year, Grayscale took the SEC to court saying that it was unfair that they had previously approved the BTC futures ETFs, but wouldn’t accept the BTC spot ETFs.

And they won!

Meaning that the SEC no longer really had a leg to stand on with regards to denying BTC spot ETFs, and they ultimately approved 11 of them in the US on 10th Jan, 2024.

But it seems Grayscale isn’t taking the same approach for their Ethereum spot ETF…at least not yet.

As of Tuesday, Grayscale withdrew their Ethereum futures ETF (and with no ‘futures’ ETF approval, it’s a given that there will be no ‘spot’ ETF approval).

On one hand, this means that it won’t go to court right now, meaning the SEC can’t deny the ETH futures ETF through legal precedence.

…on the other hand, that’s because there’s no ETH futures ETF application.

Is that because Grayscale are withdrawing, renewing, and resubmitting a stronger application? Or do they believe it will never be approved and they’ve withdrawn the application for good?

Only Grayscale knows.