Litecoin Defies Bitcoin, Ethereum Dip Ahead Of SEC ETF Decision: 'A Delay Is More Likely,' Says Expert

A Litecoin LTC/USD spot exchange-traded fund due for a decision on Monday may be delayed by the SEC, an analyst said.

What happened: In an X post, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart noted May 5 has been designated as the date for deciding whether to approve or disapprove the Canary Litecoin ETF. The fund's 19b-4 filing was acknowledged by the SEC earlier in January.

"If any asset has a chance of early approval, it’s Litecoin IMO. Personally think a delay is more likely but def something to watch," Seyffart remarked.

Why It Matters: The SEC is required to decide on ETF applications within 240 days of the acknowledgment of the 19b-4 filing. Throughout this period, the agency releases filings at predetermined intervals to indicate whether it has ruled on the proposals or requires additional time to evaluate them. The final deadline was set to Oct. 2.

Notably, Bloomberg gave Litecoin ETF a 90% likelihood of approval from the SEC, with senior analyst Eric Balchunas previously stating that Litecoin would be the first altcoin ETF in 2025.

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As of this writing, cryptocurrency bettors on popular prediction platform Polymarket saw an 80% chance of approval in 2025.

Interestingly, the SEC described Litecoin as "very similar" to Bitcoin BTC/USD while acknowledging its 19b-4 application earlier.

Bitcoin ETFs started trading on Wall Street last year. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF IBIT has become the world’s largest Bitcoin fund with assets under management worth over $58 billion as of this writing.

Price Action: At the time of writing, Litecoin was exchanging hands at $88.01, up 1.41% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. The proof-of-work cryptocurrency bucked the decline in Bitcoin and Ethereum ETH/USD, which dipped 1.30% and 1.47%, respectively.