The deadline for deciding whether to approve Ethereum Futures Trust, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) from digital asset management company Grayscale, has been extended once more by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The SEC announced in a March 22 filing that it would extend the March 31 deadline to May 30 in order to make a decision on Grayscale’s Ethereum Futures Trust ETF approval. The fund would be primarily focused on investing in Ether futures

The SEC announced in December 2023 that it will seek more public feedback on whether Grayscale’s futures ETF product should be listed, delaying the product’s approval deadline.

This came only three months after Grayscale proposed listing and trading shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust ETF under the New York Stock Exchange Arca Rule 8.200-E in September 2023.

Following the listing, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart claimed that Grayscale was using its futures ETF application as a “trojan horse” to influence the SEC’s decision to approve its spot Ether ETF.

He explained that if the SEC approved Grayscale’s application, it would allow Grayscale to argue for the approval of its spot Ether ETF application.

In the meanwhile, on January 25, the SEC opened the application to public comments and postponed making a judgment on whether to accept Grayscale’s spot Ether ETF.

In response to the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs on January 10, observers in the cryptocurrency space have grown increasingly pessimistic about the SEC’s potential to crack down further on crypto-based ETFs.