Crypto: Grayscale wants to speed up ETFs and keep projects under wraps before launch

Grayscale, 21Shares and Andreessen Horowitz are putting pressure on the SEC. Crypto firms are calling for faster reviews of new ETFs and the ability to submit initial filings confidentially, before they are made public. Grayscale is even proposing that the regulator commit to responding within 45 days. Wall Street, meanwhile, is urging caution: speed should not mean rushing the process.

Crypto: Grayscale calls for a 45-day response

Grayscale knows Washington’s delays well. The asset manager recently turned Zcash into a listed product with its new ZCSH ETF, after several months of regulatory work.

This time, it wants to change the process itself.

Grayscale is proposing an optional confidential consultation process with the SEC before a new ETF is publicly filed. The regulator would then have 45 days to respond, with an expedited process for filings that properly incorporate its comments.

The idea is not to launch a fund in secret.

The filing would become public before the fund was marketed. Confidentiality would mainly apply during the initial discussions with the SEC.

Why? Because when an issuer publishes an original structure, competitors sometimes file almost identical products immediately afterward.

Grayscale cites its own GDLC multi-asset ETF: several months of discussions preceded its eventual listing in September 2025.

Copies are now arriving very quickly

21Shares is defending virtually the same idea. The asset manager believes that filing publicly too early allows competitors to copy a strategy before its creator has even received a regulatory response.

The SEC itself acknowledges the phenomenon.

In its official consultation on “Novel ETFs”, it says it has observed several nearly identical filings submitted in rapid succession. Artificial intelligence could accelerate this process even further.

The issue is becoming more significant as Bitwise had already filed a wave of 11 crypto ETFs covering AAVE, UNI, ZEC, HYPE and SUI, among others.

Andreessen Horowitz is also calling for shorter timelines. For a16z, filings are now electronic, many disclosures are standardized and the same regulatory questions recur from one product to the next.

Its message is nevertheless measured: faster should not mean less oversight.

Wall Street says the brakes should remain in place

Not everyone is convinced.

Jane Street warns that a race to launch first could push issuers to cut corners in structuring their products or consult market makers responsible for providing liquidity too late. The firm notably proposes having at least two authorized participants for each ETF.

Charles Schwab is more wary of confidentiality. If private discussions are allowed, the group wants the filing to become public at least 75 days before it takes effect.

Multicoin Capital, Jito and the Solana Policy Institute are also using the consultation to push crypto ETFs toward staking, notably through tokens representing staked assets.

The SEC has not yet set a date for a decision.

The debate nevertheless says a great deal about how far the sector has come. Hester Peirce had already acknowledged that the SEC’s old rules were ill-suited to crypto. The dispute is now less about whether crypto ETFs can exist than about how quickly Wall Street will be able to create new ones.