Who would have thought that Dogecoin – a memecoin with a Shiba Inu dog – would go from an internet joke to a serious investment product on Wall Street? On Monday, Grayscale debuted its Dogecoin Trust ETF under the symbol GDOG on the NYSE Arca exchange. This is the second such fund in the USA – its predecessor, REX-Osprey, was launched in September.
Dogecoin – from meme to mainstream
Dogecoin, with a capitalization of USD 21.6 billion, currently ranks 10th among cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalization. Its ups and downs are a real rollercoaster of emotions – from over USD 0.45 just after the presidential election to less than USD 0.15 now. What is driving this variability? This included Elon Musk, who regularly promoted DOGE on social media.
Dogecoin has evolved from internet culture to real-world utility, and this maturity fits into our goal of making digital assets available to a wider range of investors
said Krista Lynch, vice president of ETFs at Grayscale.
Controversy and a pyramid scheme? The court said no
The road to Wall Street was not strewn with roses. In 2022, Musk was accused in a class action lawsuit of organizing a financial pyramid scheme through the hype around Dogecoin. However, the court rejected these allegations in 2024. Interestingly, the billionaire also headed the Department of Government Efficiency – DOGE, along with Vivek Ramaswamy. Case? Rather, another nod to the meme cryptocurrency.
Regulatory shortcut
Grayscale used the classic ETF route, while REX-Osprey took a slightly different route by registering under the Investment Company Act of 1940 – this allows for active management of the fund. It is worth noting that a whole series of crypto-ETFs have recently entered the market, including ones tracking Litecoin, HBAR, XRP and SOL. They were approved during the federal government shutdown, when companies could take advantage of SEC guidelines allowing them to go public without direct approval from the agency.
Dogecoin on Wall Street? Just a year ago it sounded like a joke. Today it is a fact. Will memecoin stay in the portfolios of institutional investors for good? The coming months will show, but it must be admitted that the dog has claws. Wow, sharp focus 😉
