On Wednesday, April 10, 2026, Canary Capital filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the Pepe memecoin. This filing represents the latest in a series of memecoin ETF applications from the firm and marks a significant step in the financialization of the crypto sector.
The proposed Pepe ETF would be the first dedicated spot ETF for the frog-themed memecoin, which launched in 2023. Analysts note that while Pepe is more obscure than assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum, it offers distinct characteristics that could attract both retail and institutional investors. Laurens Fraussen, a research analyst at Kaiko, highlighted that institutional investors might use a Pepe ETF to capture crypto market volatility for short-term strategies rather than long-term holding, given Pepe's history of dozens of large price swings and its higher volatility compared to established assets.
This filing occurs within a broader context of crypto ETF proliferation. Since the landmark approval of the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, issuers have filed approximately 44 crypto-related ETFs, with many still pending. Notably, on the same day as Canary's filing, Morgan Stanley launched its own Bitcoin ETF—the first from a Wall Street bank—which attracted $33 million in its first trading day.
Carlos Guzman, a research analyst at crypto market maker GSR, suggested that while some hedge funds and trading firms might engage with a Pepe ETF for arbitrage strategies once sufficient liquidity and derivatives infrastructure exist, the "more natural buyer" is likely the speculative retail investor. An ETF structure would allow such investors to gain exposure to Pepe through a regular brokerage account, bypassing the need to use a dedicated crypto exchange or interact directly with the Ethereum blockchain.
Beyond volatility, Fraussen pointed out that investors may also be drawn to the cultural and intellectual property (IP) appeal of memes like Pepe and Dogecoin, which carry significance beyond their status as crypto assets. Dogecoin, considered the original memecoin, already has four spot ETFs on the market from issuers including 21Shares and Grayscale.
Canary Capital has expanded its memecoin ETF ambitions beyond Pepe, having also filed for ETFs tied to President Donald Trump's memecoin and Mog Coin, another internet joke-based token.
