Canary Capital files S-1 to launch spot PEPE ETF

Canary Capital has filed an application with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a spot exchange-traded fund tracking the popular meme coin, PEPE.

A Form S-1 filed with the SEC on behalf of the CANARY PEPE ETF says the fund will seek to track the price of the digital asset while holding the underlying tokens with a third-party digital custodian.

The fund would also include up to 5% of the portfolio’s value in Ether to pay for transaction fees on the Ethereum network.

For those unaware, PEPE is a cryptocurrency based on the fictional character created by Matt Furie, Pepe the Frog. The frog-themed meme coin gained massive traction in 2024 and has since become a staple among speculative trading circles.

Over the years, the token has garnered a massive online following and has even attracted large investors like BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, who has publicly advocated for the coin’s potential.

At the time of writing, the meme coin was trading significantly below its all-time high, and data from blockchain explorer Etherscan suggests over 250,000 unique wallets hold Pepe coin. However, the filing notes that a large portion of this supply is concentrated due to whale wallets.

Canary Capital has highlighted this risk in its filing and has warned investors about the “highly concentrated” nature of the token’s distribution.

“As of January 2026, the ten largest PEPE wallet addresses collectively held approximately 41% of the total circulating supply,” the filing said.

A PEPE coin ETF could help spark fresh liquidity and interest for the token in the short term, but whether the asset would still be in demand among institutional players who are the primary target of ETFs remains to be seen.

There’s only one other meme coin that has its own spot ETF, and that is Dogecoin. Grayscale launched the Grayscale Dogecoin Trust (and subsequent ETF) in November, but the product saw lackluster performance at launch.

The PEPE coin ETF proposal adds further diversity to Canary Capital’s offerings, which include several other funds tracking altcoins like Solana, XRP, and Litecoin.