The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has deferred decisions on spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications from both Grayscale Investments and BlackRock.

Grayscale's application seeks to convert its Ethereum trust product (ETHE) into an ETF, while BlackRock aims to launch a similar vehicle. The SEC's decision to delay these applications follows the recent approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. earlier this month.

The SEC has traditionally been cautious about approving spot crypto ETFs, and the delay in decisions for Grayscale and BlackRock is consistent with its approach. Ahead of the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, issuers and exchanges addressed various questions from the regulator in updated documents. Whether the spot Ether ETF applications have progressed to this stage remains unclear.

The recent filings include questions for public consideration, such as whether arguments supporting the listing of Bitcoin ETPs apply equally to spot Ether ETFs. Commenters are invited to share their perspectives on various aspects, including the potential similarities between spot Bitcoin and spot Ether ETFs, concerns about Ethereum's susceptibility to fraud and manipulation, and the role of market manipulation in both spot and futures markets.

These questions echo those posed by the SEC during the review of spot Bitcoin ETF applications, covering topics such as market manipulation, correlation between spot and futures markets, and the size of the CME futures market.

The delay in decisions suggests ongoing scrutiny by the SEC as it navigates the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency ETFs.

Jupiter’s $WEN Token🪐

Jupiter's launchpad will debut the WEN token on Friday, marking the long-awaited launch of the Solana meme coin.

This initiative, facilitated by the decentralized finance (DeFi) aggregator Ovols using Jupiter's new token launchpad, follows weeks of anticipation. WEN will be launched through Jupiter's platform, with details finally provided on how users can participate in the token drop.

Founder Meow shared additional information on Twitter, including a poetic post titled "A Love Letter to Wen Bros," which was minted as a non-fungible token (NFT) using the Wen New Standard (WNS). This NFT has been fractionalized into 1 trillion WEN tokens, with approximately 70% of the supply set to be distributed evenly across more than one million eligible Solana wallets.

Eligible wallets include those of active Jupiter users in the past six months, Solana Saga smartphone owners, and holders of NFTs from Ovols and other top collections. The claiming process will commence at 10 a.m. ET on Friday, January 26. Despite its fractionalized origins, the official website assures that WEN will trade like normal Solana tokens.

This WEN airdrop serves as a precursor to Jupiter's anticipated JUP token drop on January 31, with nearly a million wallets eligible for participation. This aligns with recent trends of prominent Solana airdrops, including those from Jito and Pyth.

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AltLayer’s Airdrop Alpha 🪂

AltLayer, a decentralized protocol facilitating the creation of rollups from various software stacks, recently launched its native token and initiated trading on centralized exchanges.

Within just four hours of trading, the token generated a remarkable $300 million in trading volume across different platforms, currently priced at $0.29. With a total token supply of 10 billion, this places AltLayer's fully diluted valuation at $2.9 billion.

Additionally, AltLayer commenced the opening of claims for an airdrop, rewarding eligible users selected from a snapshot taken on January 17. Criteria for eligibility included staking on Celestia, EigenLayer, holding AltLayer NFTs, and participating in community campaigns. The airdrop, constituting the first round, comprises 300 million ALT tokens ($87 million), representing 3% of the total supply.

AltLayer aims to revolutionize Layer 2 projects by introducing "restaked rollups," utilizing EigenLayer's restaking mechanism to enhance network security. ALT token holders will wield governance rights and will be mandated to pay protocol fees using the tokens.

Notably, over 29,000 wallets have claimed 100.7 million tokens, constituting 33% of the total airdrop amount. The top ten addresses received approximately 4.8 million tokens. AltLayer had previously secured $22.8 million from two rounds of private token sales, which accounted for 18.5% of the total ALT token supply.

Dencun Testnet Timeline⏰

Ethereum developers have outlined the timeline for the final testnet upgrades leading to the much-anticipated Dencun hard fork, marking Ethereum's most significant upgrade in a year.

Dencun aims to introduce "proto-danksharding," a crucial technical feature designed to reduce transaction costs on layer 2s and enhance data availability on the blockchain.

In a recent blog post, developers confirmed that the protocol changes for Dencun will be tested on the Sepolia and Holesky test networks on January 30 and February 7, respectively. These tests serve as critical milestones before implementing the upgrade on the main Ethereum network.

The Sepolia testnet will undergo the Dencun upgrade at 22:51 UTC and epoch 132608, followed by the Holesky testnet on February 7 at 11:34 UTC and epoch 950272. The successful upgrade on the Goerli testnet last week demonstrated progress despite minor issues, further solidifying the readiness for Dencun's implementation.

Assuming all tests proceed smoothly, developers are aiming for the Dencun upgrade to go live on Ethereum's mainnet by the end of February or early March. This timeline represents a significant step forward in Ethereum's ongoing efforts to enhance scalability and efficiency, ultimately benefiting its global user base.

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