According to a filing by the regulator on Friday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed a decision on whether to accept Cathie Wood-led Ark Investment Management’s (ARK) spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The SEC has delayed making a decision on the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF registration by many weeks, and possibly even months. Previously, a choice had to be made by August 13th.

Numerous proposals for spot bitcoin ETFs—publicly traded investment vehicles that directly follow the price of bitcoin—have been turned down by the regulator in recent years, claiming insufficient levels of trading supervision that could expose the underlying spot market to fraud and manipulation.

Regulators have, however, permitted futures-based bitcoin ETFs that follow the price of bitcoin futures contracts starting October 2021.

Since a number of well-known companies, including Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, crashed last year, including a number of high-profile ones, the cryptocurrency markets have been in a rut. Interest from major financial institutions has helped them recover recently.

The largest asset manager in the world, BlackRock (BLK.N), applied for a bitcoin ETF in June, which many saw as a turning point for the sector.

Wood’s ARK and the cryptocurrency investing company 21Shares US LLC first collaborated to submit a spot bitcoin ETF application to the regulatory body in 2021.