October was supposed to be the month in which the long-awaited cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) would finally hit the US markets. Deadlines were set throughout the month for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve or deny several crypto spot ETF applications. But when the US government shut down, the process froze and deadlines stopped mattering.
Now November could take October’s place. Several issuers are using a procedural route that does not require active SEC approval. It’s the same approach that allowed four crypto ETFs (two from Canary Capital, one from Bitwise, and one from Grayscale) to begin trading earlier this week despite regulatory paralysis.
Issuers are filing updated S-1 registration statements that include “promptly amended” language. Under U.S. securities law, those filings automatically become effective after 20 days, unless the SEC intervenes to issue a stay or request changes. For the four ETFs that listed this week, the SEC did not act, allowing them to go live by default.
That success has sparked a wave of new performances. On Thursday, Fidelity filed an updated S-1 for its Solana spot ETF, and Canary Capital did the same for its XRP ETF. If the SEC continues its current path and does not block the process, the market could see its first XRP fund as soon as November 13.
Still, there are limits to how far this solution can go. While the SEC has already reviewed filings related to the Solana, HBAR, and Litecoin ETFs, it has not engaged much with the XRP application, a gap that could lead the agency to halt its automatic approval.
“I think we may see many of the funds launch next month. And that could be true whether the government reopens or not. But there are funds with filings that simply haven’t received any response from the SEC on their S-1 (prospectuses) yet and I’m not sure they can launch without the SEC getting back to work,” said James Seyffart, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “So yes, many are likely to launch next month, but there are some that are simply unlikely to launch without the government reopening.”
For investors, the change marks a new phase in the years-long effort to bring crypto ETFs to US markets. Instead of waiting for the SEC’s formal blessing, issuers are using procedural mechanisms to move forward. Whether that momentum sustains into November may depend less on market readiness and more on whether the government gets back to work.
