The crypto community’s favorite meme coin, Dogecoin (DOGE), is next in line for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval to be launched as a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States.
Digital asset manager Bitwise, who has six crypto ETFs trading on Wall Street, including Bitcoin and Ethereum-backed products, has taken advantage of the pro-crypto regulatory environment promised under the second Trump administration and made the first move to file an application with the SEC for a spot Dogecoin ETF.
Asset Managers Bitwise And Rex Shares Propose File Applications For DOGE ETFs
James Seyffart, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, confirmed the news on X after sharing a post that contained legal documentation of a Bitwise-created trust in the state of Delaware called the “Bitwise Dogecoin ETF”. He warned that this was just registration for a trust fund and not an official SEC filing for an investment product backed by DOGE. However, this is the standard procedure adopted by asset managers before launching an ETF.
Bitwise wasn’t the only company making moves to launch a Dogecoin ETF. Seyffart noted in a separate post that Miami-based asset management firm Rex Shares has filed ETF applications for both DOGE and TRUMP. He highlighted that the company applied for its crypto ETFs under the 1940 Securities Filings Act, which could mean that if greenlit by the SEC, the Dogecoin and Trump ETFs could hit the market in early April – approximately 75 days after the filing.
If everything goes as expected, Rex Shares’ DOGE and TRUMP ETFs should beat the upcoming Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), and Litecoin (LTC) funds to Wall Street. Asset managers preparing for the latter group need to file 19b-4 applications, which have a 240-day clock.
What You Need To Know About The Dogecoin ETF?
Dogecoin DOGE is currently ranked 7th on the list of the largest cryptocurrencies, boasting a market cap of approximately $2.67 billion. It is regarded highly by the crypto community due to being the original meme coin and the asset that popularized the niche.
Dogecoin was created in 2013 as a fork of the Litecoin blockchain but exploded onto the scene after receiving a cracking endorsement from tech billionaire Elon Musk. His December 2020 X post: “One Word: Doge”, launched DOGE into the stratosphere and started the chain of events that has come down to the ETF filings in 2025.
Both Bitwise and Rex Shares await the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC’s permission to submit an official spot DOGE ETF proposal. At present, the companies have created legal entities to manage the investment product. Under the current regulatory regime, the securities watchdog has 45 days from the date of receiving the application to respond to the request. This means the first deadline for the SEC to approve or reject the instruments is March 7, 2025.
Will We See A Spot Dogecoin ETF Trading In The U.S?
Regardless of where the new SEC leadership stands on crypto, it still has a fiduciary responsibility and won’t simply approve just about any crypto ETF application that comes to the table.
First and foremost, the asset underpinning the ETF needs to be traded as a futures-based ETF on U.S. stock exchanges for at least 18 to 24 months. At the moment, there exists only one DOGE-backed exchange-traded product (ETP) in the world, which was created by ETF issuer Valor and launched on the Swedish stock exchange in November 2024.
This means that the SEC is most likely to promote the launch of a futures-based DOGE ETF in the first phase and later look into the possibility of a product for the spot market.
Another case is the risk aspect of Dogecoin’s biggest proponent, Elon Musk, heading the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) under the Trump administration. The commission will supposedly lead cost-cutting efforts across various departments to improve governmental efficiency. The official website of D.O.G.E has already removed all the imagery referencing Dogecoin.
In the past, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s actions on X and in the real world have led to the price of DOGE going through dramatic highs and lows. Experts argue that the extreme volatility of the meme coin could be detrimental to the long-term prospects of an institutional investment product.
The chances of a spot Dogecoin ETF launching in the U.S. this year are minimal. However, if it goes through as expected, then it could set the stage for Wall Street asset managers to create ETFs for other leading meme coins like Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Bonk (BONK).
At the time of writing, DOGE is trading at $0.3597 – up 2.13% in the last 24 hours.
