Canary Capital has taken another step toward launching a U.S. spot exchange-traded fund tied to the memecoin Pepe, filing an amended S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 2.

The proposed Canary Pepe ETF would be listed on Cboe BZX if approved. The filing extends a process that began with Canary Capital’s initial registration statement in April and outlines how the fund would hold Pepe directly rather than using derivatives or indirect exposure.

Trust structure and listing plan

The proposed product is structured as a trust designed to give investors exposure to Pepe through the stock market. According to the filing, the fund would hold the token itself, making it a spot ETF rather than a futures-based vehicle.

Cboe BZX, an exchange operated by Cboe Global Markets, is identified as the intended listing venue. If the ETF reaches the market, it would allow investors to access Pepe through a brokerage account instead of purchasing the token on a crypto trading platform or managing custody in a separate wallet.

How the fund would track Pepe

Canary said the ETF’s investment objective is to reflect the price performance of Pepe, with the fund’s results reduced by operating expenses and other liabilities. That means the vehicle is not designed to mirror every move in the token’s market price on a one-for-one basis.

For valuation, the trust would use CoinDesk’s Pepe Benchmark Rate 60 Minute New York to calculate net asset value. The benchmark would serve as the reference price for the fund’s holdings and as the basis for determining NAV.

What the amended filing signals

The amended S-1 does not by itself mean the fund has been cleared to begin trading, but it does show that Canary Capital is continuing to move through the SEC registration process. The latest submission follows the firm’s first filing for the product in April.

The update keeps Canary among the asset managers exploring exchange-traded products linked to digital assets beyond the largest cryptocurrencies. In this case, the underlying asset is a memecoin whose market behavior can differ sharply from tokens associated with broader blockchain utility.

Pepe’s market profile and stated risks

Pepe is an Ethereum-based memecoin launched in 2023 and built around the widely recognized frog character of the same name. The token’s price has been described in the filing as heavily influenced by online attention and community interest rather than technological use cases.

In its initial registration statement, Canary warned that a drop in public interest or a shift in social-media sentiment could lead to a sharp decline in Pepe’s price and, by extension, the value of the ETF. That risk disclosure underscores the speculative nature of the asset at the center of the proposed fund.

Next confirmed step

For now, the confirmed development is the Oct. 2 amended S-1 submission. The fund’s launch process remains ongoing, and the proposed ETF would need to continue through the regulatory and listing process before it could begin trading on Cboe BZX.

Until then, the filing provides the clearest current outline of how the trust would operate: direct holdings of Pepe, NAV based on CoinDesk’s benchmark rate, and returns that would reflect the token’s performance only after fees and other expenses are deducted.

Source: en.bloomingbit.io