The president of The ETF Store, Nate Geraci, believes that memecoins, which are known for their speculative and volatile nature, could take questionable investments packaged into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to a new level. He expressed concerns that offering memecoin ETFs could be detrimental to a firm's reputation in the eyes of Wall Street. On January 21, Rex Shares and Osprey filed for seven ETFs, three of which are based on memecoins like Dogecoin and Bonk. Bryan Armour, director of passive strategies research at Morningstar, suggested that issuers may be taking advantage of the shifting regulatory environment under the Trump administration. He noted that memecoins lack established futures markets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, creating uncertainty around whether the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would approve memecoin-based ETFs. However, issuers are willing to take the risk and be among the first if the SEC does approve them. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan acknowledged the changing regulatory landscape and highlighted that the SEC remains a serious agency with limits to political influence. The meme coin filings could be issuers testing how open the new SEC administration will be towards the industry. Despite concerns, Hougan defended the legitimacy of memecoins as investment assets, comparing them to niche investments like baseball cards or high art. He also argued that memecoins like Dogecoin have sufficient liquidity and market size to justify their inclusion in an ETF. Critics worry that memecoin ETFs could attract uninformed investors and lend undue legitimacy to speculative assets. However, Hougan countered that the SEC has previously approved ETFs for risky assets and that each token should be assessed individually.



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