Tuttle Capital has filed for 10 crypto-based leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including some for popular memecoins, with analysts saying issuers are testing the limits of Trump-appointed crypto-friendly regulators.
Tuttle’s proposed ETFs include funds that are two times leveraged long on memecoins from Donald Trump and his wife Melania, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said in a Jan. 27 X post.
In addition to the Official Trump (TRUMP) and Melania Meme (MELANIA) tokens, Seyffart said that Tuttle’s other proposed funds include “a bunch of memecoin products and assets” that don’t have ETFs yet.
Those other ETFs would be long on XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC), Chainlink (LINK), Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), BNP and the memecoin Bonk (BONK).
“To be very clear here. This is a case of issuers testing the limits of what this SEC is going to allow,” he said.
Source: James Seyffart
Trump made promises to end perceived regulatory hostility against crypto in his presidential campaign, and after he entered the White House, the Securities and Exchange Commission created a crypto task force dedicated to developing a framework for digital assets headed by crypto-friendly Commissioner Hester Peirce.
“I’m expecting the new crypto task force led by Hester Peirce to likely be the lynchpin in determining what’s gonna be allowed vs what isn’t,” Seyffart added.
Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said on X that Tuttle’s filings are “unusual,” as they’re for higher leveraged ETFs when several of them don’t have a standard ETF.
ETFs typically track the asset in their underlying index one-to-one; leveraged funds, however, track at a 2:1 ratio or higher.
“This is a 40-act filing, so in theory, unless the SEC disapproves them, they could be out and trading in April,” Balchunas said.
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“Will be interesting to see where the SEC draws [a] line (if at all) and why,” he added, noting that recent filings for Dogecoin (DOGE) and TRUMP haven’t been withdrawn.
Source: Eric Balchunas
Asset managers Osprey Funds and REX Shares flagged plans in a Jan. 21 regulatory filing to launch ETFs for several memecoins, including DOGE, TRUMP and BONK.
It comes as more firms move into the ETF market. The SEC gave the green light to Hashdex and Franklin Templeton’s respective Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) index ETFs on Dec. 20.
Investment management firm Osprey Funds has also announced a plan to convert its Osprey Bitcoin Trust (OBTC) into a spot Bitcoin ETF after its deal to be acquired by Bitwise was terminated.
According to analytics and global ETF database service VettaFi, 32 different Bitcoin ETFs are currently traded in the US. However, only 11 are spot Bitcoin ETFs.
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