The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced a delay in its decision-making regarding two prominent cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), specifically the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF and the Grayscale Hedera Trust. The agency has set a new deadline of November 12, 2025, for both applications.
The Bitwise Dogecoin ETF, which aims to track the price of the popular meme cryptocurrency, was initially submitted in March and its details were published in the Federal Register soon after. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s Hedera Trust application proposes a new product with the ticker symbol HBAR, contingent on a pending rule change request from Nasdaq that would allow its listing on the exchange.
On the same day as these delays were announced, Grayscale also submitted updated registration statements for two existing products: the Bitcoin Cash Trust and the Litecoin Trust. The objective behind these filings is to facilitate the conversion of these trusts into ETFs, a move designed to enhance liquidity and price alignment with the net asset value. Currently, these trusts trade over-the-counter, often leading to significant discrepancies between market prices and the underlying asset values. Transitioning to an ETF format would enable daily share creations and redemptions and help mitigate these pricing inconsistencies.
Grayscale previously succeeded in converting its Bitcoin Trust into the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF in 2024 after a favorable court outcome against the SEC. For the new Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin products, the Bank of New York Mellon has been appointed as the fund administrator, while Coinbase will provide custody and prime brokerage services.
The SEC now faces a substantial backlog of crypto ETF applications, with over 90 products currently awaiting review. Among these, more than 31 altcoin ETFs were filed in the first half of 2025, encompassing various cryptocurrencies such as XRP, Solana, Avalanche, and BNB. Notably, Solana leads the list with eight pending applications, followed closely by XRP with seven.
The SEC has tended to utilize the full extent of its review periods, often extending deadlines rather than issuing prompt approvals or rejections. In August alone, several ETF deadlines were postponed, affecting multiple applications including those for Truth Social, 21Shares, and WisdomTree.
Under U.S. securities law, the SEC typically has 180 days to make decisions on proposed exchange rule changes, with the option to extend that timeline by an additional 60 days for further review. Most pending applications are now clustered around fall deadlines, suggesting the potential for a flurry of rulings in a relatively short timeframe. The commission’s decisions in the upcoming months will be critical as it considers how to approach approvals beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, both of which received SEC nods last year.
