PANews reported on May 24 that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s Division of Trading and Markets decided to approve a series of Ethereum spot ETFs' 19b-4 forms, rather than the agency's commissioners. In the orders approving the 19b-4 forms for ETFs from companies such as BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, Ark, Invesco Galaxy, and Franklin Templeton, the last line reveals how the decision was made. The order states: "This order is issued by the Division of Trading and Markets on behalf of the Commission pursuant to delegated authority." This means it was the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets, not SEC Chairman Gary Gensler or the other four commissioners, that decided to approve the Ethereum spot ETFs.

Earlier this year, when the SEC approved Bitcoin spot ETFs, the commissioners voted—SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, along with Republican commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda, voted in favor. Democratic commissioners Jaime Lizárraga and Caroline Crenshaw voted against. Many commissioners also issued statements regarding the Bitcoin spot ETFs. The SEC stated on Thursday that they would not comment further beyond the orders.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said it is normal for the SEC to use delegated authority to make decisions. Seyffart stated in a post on X on Thursday: "It is standard practice to make decisions through delegated authority. This is how things are usually handled. If the SEC had to formally vote on every decision or document—that would be insane, though we would love to see the political lines drawn."