Bitwise Joins the Race for the First Dogecoin ETF

Bitwise Asset Management officially submitted a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday for a Dogecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

This marks the second filing for a Dogecoin ETF, following a similar move by Rex Shares last week.

Bitwise Files for Dogecoin ETF

On January 28, the asset manager submitted an S-1 form with the SEC to launch a Dogecoin ETF. This filing came shortly after its earlier application to establish a Dogecoin ETF through a Delaware trust.

“We knew this was coming because they filed to register the trust last week but this makes it official with the SEC,” Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart posted on X (formerly Twitter).

With this move, Bitwise joins Rex Shares, which recently submitted ETF applications for multiple meme coins. These include DOGE, Bonk (BONK), and Donald Trump’s TRUMP token.

Nonetheless, Bitwise’s filing does have a specialty. Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, highlighted that the filing was made under the Securities Act of 1933.

“This is the first ‘33 Act (a la $IBIT) doge filing. Rex has on e filed under 40 Act but that isn’t the same true blue physically backed structure,” Balchunas wrote on X.

Notably, this distinction is crucial. ETFs filed under the Securities Act of 1933 are physically backed, which means that they hold the underlying asset—in this case, Dogecoin.

In contrast, ETFs under the Investment Company Act of 1940 have a different structure. Therefore, they do not necessarily involve direct ownership of the asset.

Furthermore, in its filing, Bitwise has designated Coinbase Custody as the proposed custodian for its spot DOGE ETF. However, the S-1 does leave out certain details. This includes the proposed fee, ticker symbol, or the stock exchange on which the ETF would be listed if approved.

Meanwhile, following Bitwise’s Dogecoin ETF filing, betting odds on the prediction platform Polymarket surged to a record high of 56% in favor of approval. At the time of writing, the odds remained steady at 55%.

Bitwise’s move comes amid a rise in cryptocurrency ETF filings. The company has already launched spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) ETFs. Moreover, it has also filed applications for Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP) ETFs. 

However, the proposal for a Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund is still pending review. This fund aims to track the performance of the ten largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. Nevertheless, the SEC has extended its review of the application until March 2025.