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Canary Capital’s spot Litecoin exchange-traded fund stands unresolved after the US Securities and Exchange Commission refrained from action on Thursday, the initial deadline for making a determination.
The SEC’s inaction has left the crypto community in doubt about how the regulator will operate amidst a federal government shutdown and how its newly established generic listing criteria would influence the timelines of numerous crypto ETF applications waiting for clearance.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart and FOX News journalist Eleanor Terrett remarked that the prior 19b-4 deadlines for crypto ETF submissions may no longer hold relevance, as the SEC has requested applicants to retract them, leaving the S-1 registration statement as the only document necessitating regulatory approval.
Nevertheless, overshadowing this is an additional layer of ambiguity concerning the government shutdown.
In August, the SEC released an “Operational Plan” in case of a government shutdown, indicating it would “not review and authorize registration applications.” This encompasses new financial instruments, self-regulatory organization rule modifications, and the evaluation or acceleration of the effectiveness of registration statements.
It remains uncertain if the SEC’s quietness regarding Canary’s spot Litecoin ETF is solely attributable to the government shutdown or if it also stems from the new generic listing criteria, rendering the 19b-4 deadline non-essential.
Canary retracted its 19b-4 last week, complicating the situation
Canary retracted its 19b-4 submission on Sept. 25 at the SEC’s behest, which may have influenced the SEC’s indecision on Thursday. The effects of the 19b-4s on applicants who have not withdrawn that document remain unclear.
— Litecoin (@litecoin) October 2, 2025
Cointelegraph contacted the SEC and Canary for remarks, but did not receive an immediate reply.
SEC still operational, yet in a restricted capacity
In light of the government shutdown on Wednesday, the SEC declared that it would maintain operations, albeit with a “very limited” staff presence.
The SEC confirmed that its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) database would stay functional.
Altcoins aim to enhance $75 billion spot crypto ETF market in US
The market has been anticipating the possible approval of several new spot crypto ETFs—including LTC and Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), Avalanche (AVAX), Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), and Dogecoin (DOGE).
Related: House Republicans to investigate Gary Gensler’s deleted messages
Any approval would add to the US spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs currently existing, which have garnered $61.3 billion and $13.4 billion in inflows since their introduction last year.
Despite the challenges, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas mentioned on Monday that the SEC’s new listing criteria have increased the chances of some spot crypto ETF approvals to 100%.
The listing criteria are anticipated to streamline the procedure under Rule 6c-11, significantly shortening approval timelines, which conventionally take up to 240 days.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins asserted that the new listing criteria will diminish obstacles to accessing digital asset offerings and provide investors with greater options.
Magazine: Can Robinhood or Kraken’s tokenized stocks ever be authentically decentralized?
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