Digital asset manager 21Shares has officially entered the competition to launch the United States’ first spot Dogecoin exchange-traded fund, submitting an initial S-1 registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 9. This filing places 21Shares alongside rivals Bitwise and Grayscale in the pursuit of bringing the popular memecoin to traditional investment platforms. According to the registration documents, oinbase">Coinbase Custody would serve as the custodian for the proposed fund, though key details including the management fee, ticker symbol, and target exchange remain unspecified. The Dogecoin Foundation’s commercial arm, House of Doge, has partnered with 21Shares to assist with marketing the ETF.
The move represents 21Shares’ continued push to expand its cryptocurrency ETF lineup beyond its existing itcoin">Bitcoin and Ethereum offerings. The firm has been actively pursuing regulatory approval for various digital assets, including previous filings for spot Polkadot and XRP ETFs. Dogecoin, currently the eighth-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $24.2 billion, began as a joke in 2013 but has since developed a passionate community and significant market presence. Despite its lighthearted origins as a fork of Lucky Coin (itself a itcoin">Bitcoin fork), the cryptocurrency has attracted serious institutional interest as the crypto ETF landscape evolves.
Industry analysts have characterized the recent flood of crypto ETF applications as a “spaghetti cannon approach,” with issuers testing which products might receive approval under new SEC leadership. Bloomberg ETF analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas have assigned a 75% probability to the approval of a spot Dogecoin ETF this year, while prediction market Polymarket currently estimates 64% odds. Concurrent with its US filing, 21Shares announced the launch of a fully backed Dogecoin exchange-traded product on Switzerland’s SIX Swiss Exchange under the ticker “DOGE” with a 2.5% fee. 21Shares president Duncan Moir emphasized Dogecoin’s cultural significance, stating it “represents a cultural and financial movement that continues to drive mainstream adoption,” positioning their product as a regulated avenue for investors to participate in this growing ecosystem.
