SEC delays its decisions on DOGE and XRP ETF proposals

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday delayed its decision on cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds linked to XRP and Dogecoin.

The agency’s filings list three affected products: the 21Shares Core XRP Trust, the Grayscale XRP Trust, and the Grayscale Dogecoin Trust. The SEC has asked for public comments on these products.

‘Institution of proceedings is appropriate at this time in view of the legal and policy issues raised by the proposed rule change,’ the SEC wrote, stressing that opening a review ‘does not indicate that the Commission has reached any conclusions.’

A separate notice postponed action on Bitwise’s request to let its planned spot Ethereum ETF earn staking rewards, another step that signals the regulator will take additional weeks to weigh comments and technical details.

In recent months, the SEC has repeatedly extended deadlines on crypto-linked ETFs while it sorts through dozens of similar filings. Under securities law, the commission can extend the process for up to 240 days per application.

SEC is taking a different approach under the Trump administration

Regulatory attitudes have swung over the past two U.S. administrations. During former President Joe Biden’s term, the commission, after losing a key court fight, cleared the first spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024 and approved spot Ethereum ETFs in May 2025.

Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the agency has closed several lawsuits against crypto firms and hosted public roundtables to talk about future rules for the industry.

Market watchers say that history means further pauses should not surprise investors. Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart wrote on X that the commission ‘usually takes the full time allotted to respond.’

Delays on spot crypto ETFs are expected. A bunch of XRP ETPs have dates in next few days.

If we're gonna see early approvals from the SEC on any of these assets — i wouldn't expect to see them until late June or early July at absolute earliest. More likely to be in early 4Q.

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) May 20, 2025

‘If we’re gonna see early approvals from the SEC on any of these assets, I wouldn’t expect to see them until late June or early July at absolute earliest,’ Seyffart posted on Tuesday.

He added that final deadlines for almost all pending filings land in October, making any quicker answer ‘the action that’s out of the norm, no matter how crypto-friendly this SEC is.’

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