SEC extends review period for Ethereum options

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it is extending the review period for a proposed rule change application that would enable the trading of options on Ethereum ETFs. Originally, the deadline was set to end on October 19, but the SEC has now set a new decision date for December 3. The proposal was submitted by the Cboe Exchange on August 19 and seeks to modify Exchange Rule 4.3 to allow the listing and trading of options on nine Ethereum ETFs. These products include offerings from renowned companies such as Fidelity, Grayscale, and iShares by BlackRock. According to the SEC notice, an extension is necessary to allow sufficient time for a thorough examination of the proposed changes. If the rule amendment is approved, it would allow options to be traded on ETFs that reflect the Ethereum token, which represents the second-largest digital asset by market capitalization after Bitcoin. In a similar decision, the SEC recently approved option transactions on BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF. Options are financial contracts that give investors the right to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price. Ethereum was last trading at approximately $2,600, with the price rising about 6% in the last 24 hours amidst a broader uptrend in the crypto markets during Asian trading hours. The launch of spot Ethereum ETFs in July received mixed reactions from investors. Despite the initial enthusiasm, they have since lost nearly $550 million in assets, with the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) particularly affected by a net outflow of over $2.9 billion. The trust, emerging from a closed-end fund, has the highest fees among the products examined at 2.5%. A bright spot is the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), leading among the funds with about $1.2 billion in net inflows. The Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) has also recorded net inflows of approximately $450 million. Positive performances were also noted for the Bitwise Ethereum ETF (ETHW) and the VanEck Ethereum ETF (ETHV), which recorded inflows of $318 million and $68.9 million, respectively.