SEC hit pause on Altcoin ETFs

But it’s not what you think. PLUS: Vanguard eyes crypto, ETH soul-searching, and Bitcoin’s range-bound mood.

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Cryptopolitan News
September 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

The headlines initially seemed alarming: the SEC had asked issuers to withdraw their XRP, Solana, Cardano, Dogecoin, and Litecoin ETF filings.

However, this request is not a rejection. Instead, it signals a significant change in the regulations.

So — What’s going on?

ETF approvals used to live and die by a slow, creaky mechanism called 19b-4 filings. Each application had to age on the S.E.C.'s in-box for as long as 240 days while lawyers argued over whether it checked all of the right boxes.

Now? The S.E.C. adopted has generic listing standards.

In simpler terms, if an ETF meets certain predefined criteria, such as tracking CFTC-regulated futures contracts, it can bypass the lengthy 240-day approval process and be listed immediately.

Journalist Eleanor Terrett first reported that issuers are withdrawing old applications because they're now outdated.

Quick Explainer: What is a 19b-4 filing?

A 19b-4 is essentially a permission slip an ETF issuer shares with the SEC in order to list a new ETF. Think of that as if you needed to ask your school principal’s permission for every club meeting. The new generic framework is akin to a blanket “yes”, if you meet the rules, you don’t need to ask again.

What changes?

  • Speedier ETFs: No longer a year-long wait. Approvals can happen as fast as market time.

  • Wider coverage: Altcoins like SOL, ADA, and DOGE can now make it into Wall Street portfolios, not just Bitcoin and ETH.

  • Signal of legitimacy: This is the move that indicates regulators are laying down rules of the road, not just slogging through endless case-by-case warfare.

⚡ Knowledge Box: Generic Standards = Efficiency
Under the new rules, exchanges can list commodity-based ETFs (including crypto) as long as they meet baseline eligibility: liquidity, oversight, and futures alignment. The SEC swaps discretion for automation and Wall Street loves predictable rules.

The catch

  • Politics could complicate things even with relaxed rules. A potential government shutdown, which Polymarket estimates at a 69% probability on October 1, could still delay ETF approvals if the SEC's operations are halted.

  • Time: Prospectuses still require months to process with the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance. The exact dates of the launches are unknown.

The bigger picture

This is not the death of altcoin ETFs. It’s the beginning of their real opportunity.

For now, watch for issuers such as Fidelity and Franklin Templeton to refile under the new standards. If the SEC’s timeline stands, new waves of ETFs could come faster than many anticipate.

And here’s the takeaway:

💡 The SEC just showed its hand Bitcoin and Ethereum weren’t one-offs. Altcoins are now in the queue. The only question is who gets to market first.

📊 Market Watch

🧠 ETH’s price is all in your head

Psychology is just as rule-setting as fundamentals in ETH’s price, says new Ethereum Foundation study.

Researchers determined that the community reached what they described as a “breaking point” earlier this year, when ETH traded sideways between $1.6K–$2.5K while rival chains saw explosive growth. The result? Questions around Ethereum’s leadership, vision and competitiveness.

🐂 BTC buyers stay cautious

Volumes of bitcoins being bought (taker volume) which is an approximation to the level of demand in the market, has been hovering at early 2024 levels. No panic, no FOMO. Instead, whales are quietly stacking and retail is watching. The BTC markets are range bound at $113–115k levels, while the CME gap sits in the mid-$110k area.

The market’s in “wait-and-see” mode, anything can flip sentiment fast if volumes start to surge.

🏦 Vanguard finally eyes Crypto

The $11 trillion asset manager may let its users trade crypto E.T.F.s on its platform, a major about-face for a company that once instructed investors to shun Bitcoin “like the plague.” The rethink comes under a new CEO, Salim Ramji (ex-BlackRock), and on the heels of record inflows into crypto ETFs, culminating with BlackRock’s $84B IBIT.

If Vanguard caves and allows a crypto linked fund, 50M clients are instantly exposed to it and the ETF race is even BIGGER.

 📉 Chart our analyst is watching

Coinbase was up 5.9% Monday in tandem with Bitcoin’s push to $113K and a 3% climb in Ethereum. The total crypto market cap is currently up around $3.86T at the time of writing, again in line with the overall market direction.

BlackRock has $206M in ETH and $38M in BTC through Coinbase Prime so traditional investment firms appear to be placing via Coinbase.

COIN ended the day at $330.23 a share, down 21 percent from its July peak but up 28 percent year to date. If you bought $1,000 at IPO? It’s worth about… $1,006 today.

Medium articles we are reading

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