The Shiba Inu community is nudging Grayscale Investments to consider introducing a spot market SHIB exchange-traded fund (ETF), which would allow the meme coin to join Bitcoin (BTC) on U.S. exchanges.
Though the move seems rather far-fetched, a potential approval would boost SHIB’s appeal among more conservative institutional investors, just as the newly launched BTC ETFs have attracted enormous inflows.
Why Grayscale Should Apply For SHIB ETF
A Change.org petition is requesting the Grayscale Investments team to file paperwork for a spot Shiba Inu exchange-traded fund as the canine-themed falls outside the Howey test criteria, and is thus not a security. This, the petition claims, will make it extremely easy for Grayscale to make the move without any legal intricacies.
The petitioners note that Shiba Inu was the second favorite crypto among U.S. investors in the past year (2/25/23 – 2/25/24), only trailing behind Bitcoin, according to Google trends data. SHIB supposedly is ahead of Ethereum and XRP in terms of public interest. This popularity not only shows the appeal of Shiba Inu but also symbolizes the market’s readiness for a SHIB-focused ETF.
Furthermore, the Shib Army notes that the listing of regulated Shiba Inu investment vehicles would broaden access to SHIB for retail and institutional investors without the hassle of buying and storing the digital asset themselves. That eliminates the major barriers some crypto-curious investors would normally encounter: navigating crypto exchanges, digital wallets, and seed phrases.
The SEC has traditionally stonewalled spot crypto ETF products, only allowing 11 spot BTC ETFs to go live in the U.S. for the first time in mid-January following Grayscale’s big court win against the securities regulator last August over Bitcoin ETF.
The petition is already garnering traction and currently has 916 signatures out of the 1,000 required to pass. It’s still unclear whether ShibArmy’s pleas will prompt Grayscale Investments to introduce a spot SHIB ETF. That said, the petition underscores the confidence of the Shiba Inu community in the meme coin’s potential to break barriers and witness mainstream adoption.