Asset manager 21Shares has applied for a Dogecoin exchange-traded fund in the U.S. backed by the House of Doge, underscoring the growing interest in the popular meme token. .
On Wednesday, the firm submitted an S-1 registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission for its 21Shares Dogecoin ETF. If approved, the proposed fund would offer investors direct exposure to Dogecoin’s price movements.
The Dogecoin Foundation’s corporate arm, House of DOGE, plans to market the fund when and if it launches, with the aim of “reinforcing [the token’s] role in mainstream finance,” the organization said Wednesday in a statement.
“For Dogecoin to reach its full potential as a global currency, institutional support and corporate partnerships are essential,” Jens Wiechers, Co-Executive Director of the Dogecoin Foundation, said in the statement.
The filing comes a few weeks after the House of Doge established a reserve of 10 million DOGE, worth more than $1.5 million as of publishing time, according to CoinGecko data. House of Doge said the reserve would serve as liquidity for global transactions denominated in the cryptocurrency with the aim of spurring wider adoption.
The organization also struck a deal in March to advertise Dogecoin on driver Devlin DeFrancesco’s vehicle at the Indianapolis 500 race this May.
Both initiatives underscore the House of Doge’s mandate to bolster Dogecoin adoption through corporate deals and collaborations—a central tenet of the organization’s roadmap to bolster the Dogecoin ecosystem and the same motivating factor behind its partnership with 21Shares.
On Wednesday, the House of Doge also partnered with 21Shares on its launch of a Dogecoin ETP on Switzerland’s SIX Swiss Exchange—another move aimed at raising the profile of Dogecoin and accelerating its adoption by investors.
The announcement followed Grayscale and Bitwise’s moves to offer similar Dogecoin-based investment products in the U.S.
“This initiative with 21Shares provides a regulated path for institutions to participate in and amplify the ‘Dogecoin is Money’ vision, while still honoring the community’s spirit,” Wiechers said.
Dogecoin was recently trading at $0.15, up 3.7% over the past 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows. The asset is down from a three-year-high price of $0.475 last November, when Elon Musk ramped up his efforts to promote a U.S. government initiative with the name of the token’s ticker on social media.
Edited by James Rubin
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