The recent developments in the world of Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) have been marked by a series of delays by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC has postponed several decisions on spot Bitcoin ETF applications, catching financial markets off guard. Here’s an update on the situation: Early Delays: The SEC made this round of delays ahead of schedule. Most of the deadlines were in mid-October, but the SEC preemptively delayed their decisions. This was likely due to the potential for a US government shutdown, which would temporarily cut the SEC’s staff significantly and delay their work. SEC Communication: Unlike with previous delays, there are reports that the SEC has reached out to the entities filing for the spot BTC ETFs. While it is not certain why, it could be to discuss potential roadblocks or questions the SEC still has. Shifted Timelines: Because these delays were made early, the timeline for the next sets of deadlines will be shifted. However, those new dates have not been announced yet. One major decision from the SEC that has not been made this week is whether or not they will be trying to appeal the decision made against them in the Grayscale case1. The deadline for them to do so is October 13th, which is actually closer than some of the deadlines for the ETF filings they just delayed. If they do decide to continue fighting the conversion of gBTC into a spot BTC ETF, they will have to come up with a new reason to do so. One interesting note related to the new ETH futures ETFs being approved is that it likely means the SEC will not attempt to stop spot BTC ETFs by reversing their approval of futures BTC ETFs. To summarize, we are now waiting for the SEC’s next move in the Grayscale case to see if they will come up with a new reason to not allow spot BTC ETFs. However, the SEC is under increasing pressure to give in and approve them, as in the past week US lawmakers wrote to Gensler saying to approve a spot BTC ETF “immediately” and listen to the decisions made in court.