Asset manager Canary Capital has filed a Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to create the CANARY PEPE ETF, a spot exchange-traded fund that would hold the memecoin PEPE in trust. According to the filing, a custodian would keep the fund’s PEPE holdings, and the trust may hold up to 5% of assets in Ether (ETH) to cover Ethereum network transaction fees.
Canary — which already lists crypto ETFs tracking XRP, Solana (SOL), Hedera (HBAR) and Sei (SEI) — has been active filing niche crypto ETF proposals. In November 2025 it filed for an ETF tied to Mog Coin, a small memecoin ranked 353rd by market cap; PEPE is presently ranked far higher, around 45th.
PEPE, a token inspired by Pepe the Frog that gained social-media momentum in 2024, remains well below its December 2024 all-time high of $0.00002368, down roughly 85% from that peak. Etherscan data cited in the filing show about 513,392 PEPE holders, but the company warned ownership is highly concentrated: as of January 2026 the ten largest PEPE wallet addresses held roughly 41% of circulating supply.
Market observers note that the arrival of more altcoin-focused ETFs could influence the next altcoin cycle, though views differ on whether traditional altcoin seasons will return. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan has argued that conventional altcoin cycles are over, with institutional interest shifting to yield-bearing digital instruments or revenue-capturing crypto assets. Sygnum Bank’s chief investment officer, Fabian Dori, told Cointelegraph in December that U.S. crypto regulations could drive a surge in new ETF filings through 2026 if the CLARITY Act or similar clarity on rules advances.
Still, U.S. regulatory progress has been uneven. The CLARITY Act has not moved as quickly as some in the industry expected, impeded in part by disputes over stablecoin yield rules. Canary’s filing cautions that evolving U.S. rules for Pepe and the Ethereum network could affect the token’s use and demand.
The filing also follows a modest debut for the first U.S. spot Dogecoin ETF. Grayscale’s Dogecoin product launched in November but saw initial trading volume well below some forecasts: ETF analyst Eric Balchunas had predicted at least $12 million in first-day volume, while the ETF reported about $1.4 million on day one. Canary’s PEPE ETF proposal underscores ongoing interest among issuers to expand crypto ETF offerings beyond Bitcoin and Ether into more speculative tokens.