The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially acknowledged an application for the Canary Spot $PENGU ETF, which is a proposed fund linked to Pudgy Penguins, a popular Solana-based memecoin and non-fungible token (NFT) project.
(Source: The Solana Post on X)
SEC Reviews First NFT ETF: Can PENGU Make History?
According to the filing, the ‘first NFT ETF’ would primarily invest in spot $PENGU (80-95%) of holdings and Pudgy Penguins NFTs (5-15%), with additional allocations to Solana (SOL) and Ethereum (ETH) for liquidity.
The fund’s backer, Canary Capital, recently filed for another first-of-its-kind ETF tracking Sui (SUI), which shows growing demand for altcoin and memecoin investment products.
Market experts are seeing this as a test case for broader crypto ETF approvals beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, the SEC’s final decision remains uncertain, given regulatory skepticism around memecoins and NFTs.
As the SEC now moves the ETF filing, the memecoin with $969.99 million market capitalization could see major volatility based on the outcome.
Pudgy Penguins is a popular NFT collection featuring 8,888 cute, chubby penguin avatars on the Ethereum blockchain, launched in 2021. It quickly became a blue-chip NFT project, known for its strong community and real-world expansions like Pudgy Toys sold at Walmart and Target.
In 2023, the team launched $PENGU, a Solana-based memecoin linked to the brand, expanding its Web3 ecosystem. With a $969.99 million market cap, this memecoin serves as a governance and utility token for the project’s growing universe, including NFTs, merchandise, and games.
The project blends NFT IP with mainstream appeal amid faded hype of NFTs, making it unique in crypto culture.
If the SEC approves this ETF, it would not be Pudgy Penguins’ first major achievement, as the project’s mascot recently rang the opening bell at NASDAQ alongside VanEck, a global investment management firm, which shows its growing mainstream popularity.
The Solana-based memecoin has surged over 3% in a week. After breaking the $1 billion mark, it became the 8th-largest memecoin and beat rivals like WIF and FLOKI.
This memecoin “is starting to look a lot like PEPE did before it exploded! A daily close above $0.015–$0.017, and this train could be unstoppable,” Ali Martinez said.
Also Read: Solana ETFs Heat Up With $80M Inflows; Will Price Follow?
