SEC Delays Approval of Truth Social and Other ETFs — “Altcoin Season” Pushed to October

TradingKey - On August 18, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it is delaying decisions on several cryptocurrency ETF applications, including:

• Truth Social’s Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs
• 21Shares and Bitwise’s Solana ETFs
• 21Shares  Core XRP ETF
• CoinShares Litecoin ETF

Such delays are not uncommon for the SEC, which has applied similar “routine postponements” to the latter ETFs as part of its standard review process. The agency stated it needs more time to evaluate the proposed rule changes and associated regulatory issues.

In June, the Trump family’s company filed for its own crypto ETFs — the Truth Social Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs — marking the first such move by a presidential family. Given the Trump family’s significant financial gains from the crypto sector, some observers warn that approving these ETFs could raise concerns about conflicts of interest and self-dealing, potentially undermining public trust in both the market and the SEC.

The SEC’s latest delays, combined with investor profit-taking, triggered a market pullback:

• Bitcoin fell below $115,000 in the past 24 hours, down ~3% over seven days
• Ethereum dropped below $4,300
• Dogecoin, Solana (SOL), and other altcoins also weakened

This summer, Ethereum’s strong rally sparked a broader altcoin season. With the SEC now pushing ETF decisions to around October, the next wave of altcoin momentum could re-emerge in late autumn.