DOT slides after new delay in Polkadot ETF by 21Shares

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed the approval of a Polkadot ETF by 21Shares. The delay led to another drop in the market price of DOT. 

The US SEC announced another delay on the launch of a Polkadot ETF by 21 Shares. This is the last delay since April 25, when the review of the ETF was once again extended. The proposed fund was filed at the end of March and is relatively early in the approval process. 

The decision arrived just as the SEC delayed another proposed Solana (SOL) ETF. Additional statements are expected on the proposed DOGE and XRP funds. 

The proposal to trade the shares of the Polkadot ETF was last updated on May 8 and is currently open for submitting comments. 

The new date for Polkadot ETF statement is June 11 for Grayscale’s proposal and June 24 for the 21Shares fund. The fund has one of the lower approval probabilities compared to other coins, with 75% potential to launch by the end of 2025.

Currently, 21Shares offers its ETP through brokerages, with over $27M in assets under management. The ETP has posted over 37% in losses for the year to date despite expectations of increased demand for DOT. Polkadot is also part of Grayscale’s Smart Contract Fund, making up around 2.63% of assets under management.

21Shares already offers three major ETFs linked to BTC and ETH, with either passive or active strategies. The proposed Polkadot product will be based on the project’s spot price. 

Polkadot’s DOT token slides after ETF delay

DOT kept its overall negative direction, sliding from recent levels above $5 to $4.80. The token logged over $263M in daily trading volumes, near its higher range for the past three months. 

Polkadot has been striving to gain an ETF not only as a source of investment but also as a testament to the chain’s influence among top crypto platforms. Polkadot has one of the most active marketing campaigns in crypto, with a significant budget for social media and real-life ads. 

Polkadot is one of the niche ETFs, as most of the industry is focused on Solana or XRP launches. The success of this product may signal an even deeper involvement with the crypto ecosystem, drawing external funds to one of the unique crypto platforms. 

The Polkadot ecosystem was created after an ICO that managed to raise over $510M. Polkadot, however, lost most of its ETH in a smart contract incident while rebuilding its treasury. The project continues to allocate funds for aggressive advertising based on community voting. 

In the past few months, bounty allocations decreased as Polkadot aimed to retain a more significant treasury. Polkadot retains over $88M in its treasury. 

The advantage of Polkadot lies in its ecosystem of sub-chains, carrying their own liquidity and value. Some of the top Polkadot chains are now growing their value locked, showing the network is reaching end users.