KEY POINTS
- Canary noted the $PENGU token's utility within the community
- $PENGU is one of the fastest-rising memecoins, having toppled $BRETT and $FLOKI in its early days
- Some crypto experts and observers don't think a $PENGU ETF will get as much interest as $BTC ETFs
Rising asset management firm Canary Capital on Thursday submitted a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list a PENGU exchange-traded fund (ETF), making it the first-ever ETF holding the meme coin.
The filing was submitted Thursday and it was just one of several S-1 documents filed by Canary in hopes of delivering new cryptocurrency ETFs.
$PENGU: The Pudgy Penguins token
PENGU, launched in December, was the official meme coin of the popular Pudgy Penguins non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
According to Canary's filing, "PENGU is categorized as a 'utility token,'" which means it has use cases within the blockchain or ecosystem it is available on.
Canary did acknowledge that the Pudgy Penguins team "has not announced any particular use for PENGU or any benefit for PENGU holders other than closer association with members of the Pudgy Penguins community."
When the token launched ahead of the holidays, PENGU easily became the world's sixth-largest meme coin by market value, surpassing long-time greats BRETT and FLOKI.
As of early Friday, it has fallen to the 10th place, as per CoinGecko rankings. Still it has a $399 million market cap and has been one of the fastest-rising meme tokens in recent years.
Will $PENGU ETF get much interest?
Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have proven their worth since getting SEC approval early last year. Even with massive outflows at some points during market downturns, interest in the funds remains.
With the rise of new crypto ETF applications, not all crypto experts are positive novel crypto ETFs will gain as much attention.
For prominent crypto researcher and trader Alex Krüger, "most crypto ETFs will fail to attract AUM (assets under management) and cost issuers money." He specifically noted how, even after the news reveal of a PENGU ETF application, the token's price barely moved.
"New ETFs for crypto assets have become an irrelevant joke," he said.
One Bitcoiner agreed, saying the reason BTC ETFs "broke records" was because of the "inherent" demand for such products from institutions. On the contrary, "all these new 'crypto' ETFs" lack such demand, he said.
Still the Pudgy Penguins community is celebrating, including Luca Netz, the CEO of NFT collection. Other leading names in the crypto space also congratulated the team.
$PENGU & Pudgy Penguin NFT ETF.
— Luca Netz 🐧✳️ (@LucaNetz) March 20, 2025
First of its kind.
History 🫡 pic.twitter.com/pFoD8LsnJI
Congrats, Luca. I am so excited to see that we are back to building in crypto.
— Carlo⚖️ (@TheDeFiDefender) March 20, 2025
pengu just getting started
— orangie (@orangie) March 20, 2025
the huddle never stops
— Helio (@helio_pay) March 20, 2025
History. 👏👏👏
— Farokh (Perma/Bull) (@farokh) March 20, 2025
It remains to be seen whether PENGU, one of the most valuable meme tokens in the market, will prove itself in the long run and potentially pave the way for Canary to issue the world's first PENGU ETF.
