Let us know about free updates
Fund companies are rushing to launch products that track cryptocurrencies, memoirs and digital artwork, betting that retail investors’ desire for risky assets will expand into some of the most speculative corners of the investment world.
Exchange funds that track the performance of small cryptocurrencies like Cardano and Litecoin, Dogecoin, $Trump, $Trump, “Reverse Engineering” alien technology and Pudgy penguins are one of the most recent applications by fund providers.
Bill Singer, a U.S. Stock Exchange lawyer and former regulatory lawyer, said the proposed ETFS flood suggests “death on Wall Street,” and would offer a new product for retail investors.
“What these new ETFs show us is that the public is bored. They want to trade new exotic instruments.
“In the US, you have the right to step into casinos and save lives in red or black for better or worse. Under the Trump administration, the movement is about making people fail or succeeding, and they won’t stop you.”
Many of the applications target the market for digital assets supported by the appointment of President Donald Trump’s candidate Paul Atkins as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins is widely seen as more code-friendly than his predecessor, Gary Gensler.
This week, Trump Media & Technology Group, the Trump family media company, submitted an application to launch a True Social Bitcoin ETF.
Regulators recently allowed the launch of ETFs associated with the existing Bitcoin and ether funds, two cryptocurrencies, Solana and XRP futures contracts. The asset manager also submitted applications to the SEC for funds that hold other codes, such as Cardano and Litecoin. Basket products that hold various currencies are also located offshore.
In January, three asset managers submitted to launch an ETF holding MemeCoin – tokens representing online viral moments have no underlying value or use cases – such as Dogecoin and $Trump.
Tennessee-based Canary Capital has applied for the Pengu ETF, which holds tokens and NFTs for the internet brand The Pudgy Penguins project. If approved, the launch marks the ETF first held impossible assets, unlike the fully exchangeable stocks, bonds and even cryptocurrencies that currently support the portfolio.
Earlier this year, Tuttle Capital Management applied for a UFO disclosure AI-driven ETF. This will invest in “aerospace and defense contractors potentially exposed to advanced or reversed alien technologies that have been spurred by government disclosures about UFOs, and “materials and energy companies that will benefit from new energy sources or metamaterials inspired by alien technology.”
“There’s something about going in America. With some of these more adventurous investment suggestions, anything that appears to be sitting more comfortably is possible,” said Kenneth Lamont, Morningstar Research Principal.
“In a sense, we should celebrate what an ETF is. It’s a market access vehicle. If you’re talking about the democratization of finances and the ability of investors to track what they want to track.”
However, some are more skeptical of the new areas in which the ETF industry is moving.
“At the moment, the animal spirit has been rave reviews and seasoned, refined investors are looking at it in a distance,” said Victor Hagani, founder and CIO of wealth manager Elm Wealth. “For those who reeed, it should tell them everything they need to know.”
Others doubt that there is a sufficient investor desire for so many products investing in such speculative assets.
Todd Rosenbluth, research director at consultant TMX Vettafi, said these more unusual submissions are happening, despite the world’s largest $60.8 billion Vanguard S&P 500 ETF getting off track to surpass its own records for the full-year ETF inflow.
This suggested that “product development is often farther ahead of what the investor base is interested in,” he said.
“Some of these products have a very short lifespan. There’s a risk of buying something that’s a greater risk than people are grateful for, causing you to get hurt and make your ETF a bad light.”
