In brief
- Grayscale's Dogecoin ETF is a conversion from an existing fund.
- Activity in the altcoin ETF market has accelerated in recent weeks.
- A Bitwise Solana ETF has accumulated assets every day since its debut last month.
A Grayscale exchange-traded fund tracking the popular Dogecoin (DOGE) meme coin could begin trading next Monday, potentially adding to a growing list of U.S.-listed altcoin-focused products available to investors.
The Grayscale Dogecoin Trust (DOGE), a conversion from an existing fund, would trade on the the New York Stock Exchange. Grayscale amended its S-1 prospectus earlier this month, triggering a countdown to its beginning, although NYSE must still file a notice for the listing.
"We'll see, won't be 100% ['til] exchange notice, but based on SEC guidance, it looks good," Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas wrote in an X post Monday
Grayscale's ETF would augment a recent small flurry of activity in the altcoin ETF market. Bitwise's Dogecoin-tracking ETF could also start trading later this month, based on the timing of an SEC filing in early November.
On Monday, fund giant VanEck debuted its Solana ETF (VSOL), which follows the price of the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market value.
VSOL follows the listing of Canary Capital’s spot XRP ETF (XRPC), which opened last week with $58 million in first-day trading volume, the strongest debut of any ETF this year. That fund's launch followed the roaring start of the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL), which racked up $57 million on its first day in late October, according to Bloomberg data, and already manages more than $550 million in assets.
The Rex-Osprey DOGE ETF (DOJE) landed in the top five for trading volumes when it hit the market in September, and the issuers have already applied for a riskier, leveraged version of the fund. DOJE and a Rex-Osprey XRP fund (which also started strongly) offer investors exposure to the two altcoins via a subsidiary registered in the Cayman Islands that is wholly owned and controlled by the fund.
"We will continue to see new ETF products enter the market," Ric Edelman, founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, told Decrypt. "It won’t be a surge, but a steady pace as the marketplace increases its interest in and acceptance of crypto as a legitimate asset class worth of inclusion in diversified portfolios."
The promising ETF starts have come even as crypto markets and investor confidence have sagged. Bitcoin recently fell below $92,000, its lowest level since late April, according to data provider CoinGecko. The largest crypto by market value is off more than 13% over the last week. Solana is down more than 22% for the same period, while XRP and DOGE have dropped about 16% each.
In a Myriad prediction market, 64% of respondents expect Bitcoin's next move will be dropping to $85,000 rather than rising to $115,000, a reversal of trendlines from last week that reflects the growing pessimism about crypto markets. Myriad is a unit of Dastan, the parent company of an editorially independent Decrypt.
But the appetite for funds based on individual altcoins, combinations of tokens and strategies. has remained strong. The SEC is currently weighing about 90 digital asset applications from the crypto and traditional finance worlds.
These companies have been looking to address investor interest in these products following the dramatic success of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs that began trading last year and now oversee $134 million and $19 million in investments.
Edelman doesn't believe that the recent crypto market downturn will impact the appetite for ETFs.
"If anything, they will accelerate their launches, because launching when prices are low makes the funds’ performances look better once prices rise," he explained.