By Sophia Vance — July 1, 2025
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has hit the snooze button yet again, kicking its decision on Nasdaq’s proposed listing of the 21Shares Dogecoin ETF all the way to October. It’s the third extension since the filing landed in April, and it folds Dogecoin into a swelling queue of spot-crypto ETFs—Litecoin, Solana, XRP, and more—now gathering dust on the regulator’s desk. Bloomberg’s James Seyffart summed it up: “The SEC just punted on a bunch of altcoin ETF filings… final deadlines land in October.”1,2
The Calendar Math
Under Exchange Act rules, the Commission can take up to 240 days to rule on a 19b-4 submission. With the Dogecoin clock now officially ticking toward October 30, 2025, the agency has burned through more than a third of its statutory window without offering a substantive view on market manipulation, custody, or surveillance sharing. Classic SEC playbook: push the decision to the edge of the deadline, invite another round of public comments, and hope either the political weather or the data set changes in the interim.3
Why Doge, Why Now?
Dismiss the Shiba-emblazoned memes at your peril. Dogecoin still clears $1.6 billion in daily spot volume and boasts a circulating market cap near $23 billion. A cheap, high-throughput chain plus a fiercely loyal retail base make DOGE a surprisingly “sticky” asset for brokerages hungry for younger clients. 21Shares is betting the first regulated wrapper could pull in roughly $500 million in year-one inflows—tiny by Bitcoin standards, meaningful for a single-asset ETF born of a meme. If approved, the fund would custody DOGE with Coinbase Trust, track CF Benchmarks’ DOGE-USD Settlement Price, and settle in cash via DTCC—structurally, not much different from the Bitcoin ETFs green-lit back in January.
The Backlog Gets Real
Dogecoin is hardly alone in limbo. In just the past sixty days the SEC has postponed:
- Canary Funds’ Spot Litecoin ETF (final deadline also in October).4
- Grayscale’s conversions of its XRP and Dogecoin trusts.3
- Cboe’s Solana ETF and Hedera ETF proposals.5
My count: 14 outstanding altcoin ETFs, representing roughly $420 billion in aggregate underlying market cap. Every delay pushes liquidity that could migrate into regulated rails back onto global exchanges—many offshore—where the SEC wields precisely zero jurisdiction. The irony is thick.
Reading the Regulatory Tea Leaves
Does the October punt spell doom for Dogecoin or for altcoin ETFs writ large? I don’t think so. Staff insiders hint the delay is less about DOGE’s fundamentals and more about institutional consistency: after approving spot Bitcoin ETFs, the SEC wants a reusable template for non-proof-of-work assets. Expect a heavy focus on on-chain transparency metrics, staking mechanics (where relevant), and a tougher bar for the “shared market of significant size.” Translation: the surveillance agreement that satisfied Bitcoin may need extra levers—multi-exchange data feeds and real-time order-book analytics—to placate the lawyers.
The leadership vacuum complicates things. Acting Chair Caroline Crenshaw is steering the ship while Paul Atkins’ confirmation remains stuck in a divided Senate. Historically, personnel turnover = procedural caution. Until a permanent chair is sworn in, the Commission is unlikely to stick its neck out on a novel asset class—especially one with a canine mascot.6
Market Impact & Strategy Pivots
In the hours following the delay, DOGE drifted a modest -3% while option skew widened, signaling traders were already positioned for regulatory inertia. The real price action may hit other backlog names: Litecoin ripped 12% after its own delay in May—proof that “no news” can be bullish when odds of eventual approval creep higher.7 For tactical investors, the October window creates a seasonality trade: accumulate high-beta altcoins on summer apathy and rotate into pre-decision volatility come Q4.
Long-only allocators should treat the delay as a planning gift. Custody agreements, risk committees, and compliance frameworks can be finalized now so assets flow on day one of approval. Remember: the spot Bitcoin ETFs hauled in $12 billion in net inflows within three weeks of launch. Even if Dogecoin captures just 4%, it would instantly become one of the top-ten commodity-style ETFs by first-month volume.
The Bottom Line
The SEC’s decision to punt Dogecoin until October isn’t a verdict—it’s a procedural timeout. Expect a clustered wave of approvals or denials across the altcoin slate in Q4, timed to whichever way the political winds blow in Washington after summer recess. Until then, the playbook is simple: tune out the hand-wringing, track the comment-letter cadence, and watch open interest in DOGE options—the better tell.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Markets move, regulators dither—act accordingly.