"Bitcoin is tiresome now"...Canary Capital prepares to launch Pepe spot ETF

▲ Pepe (PEPE)

The virtual asset market is accelerating its integration with institutional finance by expanding the territory of exchange-traded funds beyond Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to the memecoin sector.

According to crypto media outlet BeInCrypto on April 9 (local time), digital asset management firm Canary Capital has submitted an S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the launch of the world's first spot Pepe (PEPE) ETF. This application is a significant signal indicating that institutional investors' interest is shifting beyond large assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum to the highly liquid memecoin sector.

In this filing, Canary Capital stated that Pepe was launched in April 2023 and its total supply exceeds 420.69 trillion PEPE. Canary Capital transparently disclosed to regulators that Pepe does not have any separate substantial utility, yet argued that it could be sufficiently included within an exchange-traded fund structure based on its high market depth, trading volume, and global community participation. This is an aggressive strategy to bridge the gap between meme culture and Wall Street.

This application for a spot Pepe ETF is an extension of Canary Capital's broader altcoin exchange-traded fund strategy. Canary Capital is already awaiting approval for spot ETFs for various assets, including Solana (SOL), XRP based on the XRP Ledger, Sui, and Tron. Last year, it also made the world's first listing applications for other memecoins, Mog and Pengu, focusing on securing market diversity.

Market experts are keenly watching whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve financial products based on highly volatile memecoins. As competition intensifies in the institutional virtual asset market with Morgan Stanley's surprise launch of a Bitcoin spot ETF on the same day, the emergence of a Pepe spot ETF is expected to significantly broaden the range of investment assets. If a channel for investing in memecoins in a regulated environment opens, it will provide new opportunities for both individual and institutional investors.

The virtual asset industry anticipates that if this application is approved, it will be a historic turning point where memecoins are recognized as legitimate investment assets, moving beyond being mere speculative tools. Canary Capital plans to prioritize regulatory compliance and strengthen investor protection by establishing a transparent custody and management system. The success or failure of the Pepe spot ETF is expected to be an important indicator for gauging the future possibility of other memecoins entering the institutional realm.

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