On April 29, Nasdaq, one of the world’s top stock exchanges, filed a 19b-4 form with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to seek listing approval for the 21Shares Spot Dogecoin (DOGE) Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF).
The move follows 21Shares’ earlier submission of an S-1 registration statement, as part of a coordinated effort in launching a spot Dogecoin ETF into the U.S. market along with other coordinated efforts by Grayscale and Bitwise. To support the ETF, 21Shares partnered with the House of Doge, the business entity of the Dogecoin Foundation. The development shows growing institutional interest in the prospects for meme coins to be used as serious investment vehicles.
The proposed ETF would provide investors with direct exposure to Dogecoin by tracking the CF Dogecoin-Dollar Settlement Price Index. Coinbase Custody Trust will serve as the fund’s custodian, while 21Shares will act as the sponsor and manager. A Maryland-based trust company will serve as the trustee. However, before trading can commence, Nasdaq must obtain final approval from the SEC.
SEC Delays Bitwise DOGE ETF
Meanwhile, the SEC has postponed its decision on Bitwise Asset Management’s proposed spot Dogecoin ETF, extending the review period until June 15, 2025. Bitwise had filed its own 19b-4 form on March 3, via the NYSE Arca exchange, in a similar bid to offer a Dogecoin ETF that provides direct price exposure.
Bitwise’s ETF is also designed to hold DOGE tokens. Coinbase Custody Trust Company is slated to be the custodian of these holdings, while the Bank of New York Mellon will handle the fund’s cash custody and administrative functions. As indicated in our previous news brief, Bitwise has just filed for a NEARs ETF with the SEC while it waits for the approval of its Solana and XRP ETFs.
Commenting on the SEC’s cautious pace, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart noted, “Final deadlines for most of this stuff are in October 2025 or later,” hinting that regulatory clarity may take several more months. According to the SEC’s post, the regulator is also postponing the consideration of Franklin Templeton’s Ethereum staking ETF, its Ripple (XRP) ETF, and Grayscale’s Hedera Trust ETF.
Currently, Dogecoin is trading at $0.174, after a slight decline of 3.58% over the past 24 hours and a 4.63% drop over the past week. The meme coin’s trading volume has decreased by 25.8% to $894 million. Despite recent volatility driven by broader market trends, technical analysis suggests that if DOGE can break and close above the weekly resistance at $0.18, it may trigger a rally toward the $0.22 psychological resistance level.