Canary Capital files for Spot PEPE ETF amid community backlash: ‘Embarrassing’

Canary Capital has filed for a Spot Pepe [PEPE] ETF despite limited enthusiasm from Wall Street for memecoin products. 

If approved, PEPE could become the second memecoin ETF, after Dogecoin [DOGE], to reach such a milestone. However, the community reactions to Canary’s PEPE ETF filing were mixed, with more users openly opposed to it. 

Eric Balchunas, a senior Bloomberg ETF analyst, posed, 

What is the investment thesis for $PEPE?

Well, as a memecoin, PEPE’s performance primarily depends on community engagement. If the hype fizzles, the losses compound.

One user satirically described PEPE’s investment thesis as, 

Buying now and selling to bigger fools later on.

In contrast, some supporters believe that the filing will automatically intrigue boomers to jump on the memecoin trend. 

But the spot DOGE ETF says otherwise. 

Will PEPE follow Spot DOGE ETF’s weak demand?

For the unfamiliar, the spot DOGE ETF hit the U.S. markets last November. So far, there are only three products from Grayscale, 21Shares, and Bitwise. 

Since March, the spot DOGE ETFs have seen only two days of inflows; the rest have been zero flows. In fact, the products have seen more zero flows than inflows or outflows, underscoring limited enthusiasm from Wall Street.  

But it was unclear whether the frog-theme memecoin would receive similar treatment from Wall Street investors. Reacting to the PEPE ETF filing, Hailey Lennon, partner at Brown Rudnick, said the crypto applications were now “getting embarrassing.”

Others urged the SEC to reject the filing, underscoring the overwhelming negative sentiment the PEPE filing has elicited. 

But did traders harbor similar sentiments?

According to CoinGlass, the retail was extremely bullish after the filing. Unsurprisingly, however, whales and smart money investors were defensively positioned despite the update. 

In other words, experienced big-ticket investors faded the filing. 

On the price charts, PEPE was down about 10% in the past 24 hours. In fact, immediately after Canary’s ETF update, the memecoin slipped 4.5%. 

The frog-themed memecoin exploded 80% to $0.000007 in January and has recently experienced short-lived rebounds. However, it was now hovering around a yearly low, suggesting that traders ignored the ETF filing. 

Final Summary

• Canary Capital’s filing for the spot PEPE ETF has triggered backlash from the crypto community. 
• The spot DOGE ETF launched last November has seen less demand, underscoring muted appetite from Wall Street.