The United States’ first memecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) is set to debut on Thursday, marking the latest step in the expansion of regulated crypto products after the successful rollout of Bitcoin and Ether funds last year.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the Rex-Osprey Doge ETF (DOJE) is set to debut Thursday.
“Pretty sure this is the first-ever US ETF to hold something that has no utility or purpose,” Balchunas said.
Balchunas hinted at the potential launch last week under the Investment Company Act of 1940 — a different framework from the Securities Act of 1933, which typically governs grantor trusts that hold physical commodities or derivatives.
Dogecoin (DOGE) rallied ahead of the approval, climbing nearly 13% over the past week, according to CoinMarketCap.
Widely regarded as the first true memecoin, Dogecoin has been trading for over a decade, building a large investor community and inspiring countless imitators that mirror different facets of crypto culture. Today, it boasts a market capitalization of $36 billion.
Its inclusion in an ETF highlights the growing recognition that even memecoins can attract institutional interest — albeit largely for speculative purposes.
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Several crypto ETFs are in the pipeline
The SEC’s approval of the Rex-Osprey Doge ETF comes as regulators weigh dozens of other crypto-focused exchange-traded products, spanning assets from Dogecoin to Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP). Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart noted last month that 92 such proposals are currently in the pipeline.
The first wave of crypto ETFs focused on Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in early 2024 was especially notable, drawing tens of billions of dollars in inflows and ranking among the most successful ETF rollouts on record. After a slow start, demand for Ether funds has also increased significantly this year.
The anticipated wave of new crypto ETFs follows a shift in the SEC’s approach to digital assets under US President Donald Trump. Alongside signaling support for tokenization as a financial innovation, the agency has also clarified that certain liquid-staking activities fall outside the scope of securities laws.
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