Asset management firm Canary Capital is looking to launch a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) tied to the PEPE memecoin.
On Wednesday, Canary filed a Form S-1 for the CANARY PEPE ETF with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The ETF would track the performance of Pepe (PEPE), with all of the trust’s PEPE held by a custodian.
It noted that the ETF trust may hold up to 5% of the trust’s assets in Ether (ETH) to pay the transaction fees on the Ethereum network.
Canary Capital, which also offers several other crypto ETFs tracking XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), Hedera (HBAR) and Sei (SEI), has filed for several other niche crypto ETF products in recent months.
In November 2025, Canary Capital filed to launch an ETF tracking the price of a memecoin called Mog Coin, the 353rd-largest crypto token by market cap, far behind PEPE, which is ranked 45th.
PEPE, a memecoin based on Pepe the Frog, gained traction on social media in 2024. The token is roughly 9% the size of the largest memecoin by market cap, Dogecoin (DOGE).
Grayscale’s Dogecoin ETF made its debut in November but fell well short of initial volume expectations. ETF analyst Eric Balchunas predicted at the time that the ETFs would get at least $12 million in volume. However, the ETF only saw $1.4 million on its first day.
The proposed ETF also comes despite the Pepe token, which is down almost 85% from its December 2024 all-time high of $0.00002368, according to CoinMarketCap.
There are currently 513,392 holders of the PEPE, according to Etherscan data. Canary Capital warned investors that ownership of the token is highly concentrated. “As of January 2026, the ten largest PEPE wallet addresses collectively held approximately 41% of the total circulating supply,” the filing said.
Altcoin season may hinge on more ETFs launching
Analysts have previously said that the next altcoin cycle may hinge on more crypto ETFs launching further down the risk curve.
However, Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at investment firm Bitwise, said in March that traditional altcoin cycles are over, and that institutional investors are focused on yield-bearing digital instruments or crypto assets that capture revenue.
Fabian Dori, chief investment officer at Sygnum Bank, told Cointelegraph in December that the number of new ETF filings is expected to surge in 2026, driven by US crypto regulations.
Related: Spot Bitcoin ETF inflows top $471M but BTC is pinned under $70K: Here’s why
“On the basis of the potential passing of the Clarity Act, we would expect that new filings continue to go beyond BTC and ETH,” Dori said.
Still, the US CLARITY Act has not passed as quickly as industry participants had hoped, largely because of an ongoing disagreement over stablecoin yields.
Canary’s filing warned that regulations in the US for the use of Pepe and the Ethereum network “continue to evolve,” which may impact the use of Pepe and its demand.
Magazine: Asia Express: Phantom Bitcoin checks, China tracks tax on blockchain
