Osprey, Rex file to list ETFs tracking President Trump's memecoin, XRP, BONK and other tokens

Quick Take

  • The firms filed a registration statement for seven new funds a day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
  • The filing included proposals for an Ethereum ETF, Bitcoin ETF, SOL ETF, XRP ETF, BONK ETF, among other products.

Osprey Funds and Rex Shares are looking for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's sign-off for several proposals for exchange-traded funds based on TRUMP, DOGE and other memecoins.

The firms filed a registration statement for seven separate funds a day after President Donald Trump's inauguration and days after Trump launched a TRUMP memecoin that garnered billions of dollars of investments.

"REX-OspreyTM TRUMP ETF (the 'Fund') seeks investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to the performance of Trump ('TRUMP' or the 'Reference Asset')," according to a registration statement filed on Tuesday. That filing also included proposals for an Ethereum ETF, Bitcoin ETF, SOL ETF, XRP ETF and BONK ETF.

Tuesday's registration statement signals expectations from the crypto industry that the Trump administration will be friendlier to digital assets. Trump tapped crypto-friendly former regulator Paul Atkins to lead the SEC and has promised to  stop "Joe Biden's crusade to crush crypto" by ensuring the future of crypto will not be "driven overseas," among other promises.

The products were filed under the Investment Company Act of 1940, similar to crypto futures ETFs, said Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart in a post on X.

"They'll hold a combo of derivatives, the assets, and a cayman subsidiary which will hold the assets," Seyffart said. "This looks similar to a playbook issuers use in  the commodity ETF world to avoid K-1's but idk."

“This seems to me like the start of ETF issuers pushing the envelope with a new SEC administration to see what they can get through,” Seyffart said in a statement sent to The Block.

Tuesday’s fund proposals are different from others, Seyffart said.

“… these funds are also structured in a unique and novel way to allow them to file as a 1940 act,” he said. “It will be interesting to see how the SEC handles both this structure and some of the more controversial assets like the memecoins. I mean TRUMP has only existed for a few days.”

Rex Shares and Osprey Funds did not respond to a request for comment.

Update: Jan. 21, 3:45 p.m. UTC to include comments from Seyffart 


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About Author

Sarah is a reporter at The Block covering policy, regulation and legal happenings. Before, Sarah was a reporter with CQ Legal writing about securities regulation, which is where she first started reporting on crypto. Sarah has also written for The Bond Buyer and American Banker, among other finance-related publications. She graduated from the University of Missouri and earned a degree in print and digital journalism. Sarah is based in Washington D.C., and is an avid coffee lover. You can follow her on Twitter @ForTheWynn.

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