Breaking: US SEC Issues Guidance on Pending Crypto ETFs as Government Shutdown Ends

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) releases guidance related to crypto ETFs and other registrations pending with the commission. This comes as President Trump signed a bill to officially end the longest government shutdown in history.

US SEC Guidance on Crypto ETFs Approval After Government Shutdown

The Division of Corporation Finance of the US SEC received over 900 registration statements from issuers during the government shutdown. To provide transparency to issuers with pending filings, including crypto ETFs, pending before the commission, the SEC has released guidance dated November 13.

It is important to note that the SEC issued guidance before the government shutdown that led Solana, Litecoin, HBAR, and XRP ETFs to go auto-effective via an 8-A filing and listing certification from exchanges.

The SEC clarified that issuers don’t need to add a delaying amendment now that the government shutdown has ended. As long as the issuer included the language provided by Rule 473(b) or filed a new registration statement without a delaying amendment, then the crypto ETF will become effective after 20 days under Section 8(a) of the Securities Act and Rule 459.

“The company and its representatives should ensure that the registration statement does not contain any material misstatements or omissions of material information required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading.”

Meanwhile, the division staff is working to clear the backlog of filings. During the government shutdown, the SEC has indeed delayed some ETF filings, such as BlackRock Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, as they require further review.  

Other Guidance from the Commission

The SEC will consider requests by issuers to advance the effective date of crypto ETFs before the end of 20-day period. However, issues need to submit requests to the commission for approval with 8-A under Rule 461.

The issuers can request acceleration of the effectiveness date if the SEC staff communicated that it was not reviewing a pending registration statement.

If a filing was under review before the government shutdown, the SEC will continue to review those filings. The commission will likely approve many crypto ETFs in the order in which they were received.