Paul Johnson In a first for Wall Street, Canary Capital has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) directly tied to President Donald Trump’s meme coin, TRUMP. The filing, submitted Tuesday under the Securities Act of 1933, marks the first attempt to list a fully crypto-backed ETF focused exclusively on a sitting president’s personal digital token.
A Different Kind of Meme Coin ETF
While two other asset managers submitted TRUMP ETF proposals earlier this year, those funds were structured under the Investment Company Act of 1940. That structure effectively limited their exposure—indirectly holding TRUMP via offshore subsidiaries, hedged with U.S. Treasuries and cash equivalents.
Canary’s filing takes the bolder route: a fund backed entirely by TRUMP tokens held in custody. If approved, investors would gain direct exposure to the token’s price movements—without the buffer of traditional assets. Custody requirements would force those reserves to be tightly regulated, likely within the United States.
SEC’s Regulatory Dilemma
The move puts the SEC in a tricky spot. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that regulators typically require an asset to trade as a futures product for at least six months before a spot ETF can be considered. No TRUMP futures contracts have yet cleared that hurdle.
Still, the landscape has shifted dramatically in 2025. Since January, the SEC has followed the president’s directive to adopt a more permissive stance toward digital assets. In February, Commissioner Hester Peirce openly stated that the TRUMP token likely fell outside SEC jurisdiction. Weeks later, the Commission went further, declaring all meme coins to be non-securities—effectively exempting them from traditional securities oversight.
The Political and Market Stakes
If approved, Canary’s TRUMP Coin ETF would represent a historic first: the integration of a sitting U.S. president’s personal digital token directly into Wall Street’s financial system. It would also signal how far Washington has moved from skepticism to active participation in crypto markets.
The timing is critical. TRUMP has lost more than 70% of its value since its January debut, even as analysts predict meme coin ETFs—TRUMP and beyond—could receive green lights before year’s end. For investors, that means betting not only on the token itself but also on the broader political and regulatory narrative surrounding it.
Key Takeaways
• First of its kind: Canary Capital’s TRUMP ETF would directly hold the president’s meme coin.
• High stakes for the SEC: Approval would test regulatory norms and political pressures.
• Market uncertainty: TRUMP has plunged since launch, but ETF approval could reshape its trajectory.
As Wall Street, Washington, and crypto traders all wait for the SEC’s next move, one thing is clear: the TRUMP token has already cemented its place as the most politically charged meme coin in history.
