Active memecoin ETFs have a ‘good chance’ next year: Analyst

It may not be long before Americans see the first active memecoin-focused exchange-traded funds, according to a Bloomberg ETF analyst. 

There is a “really good chance” that an ETF that actively trades memecoins will exist at some point, said Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas in an X post on June 7. 

“First, we’ll get a slew of active crypto ETFs,” he said, adding that an active memecoin-only fund will likely emerge in 2026.

Memecoin trading has exploded this year, especially among retail traders, propelling its total market capitalization over $60 billion. This could encourage ETF issuers to develop products that tap into this emerging sector of the crypto market. 

His comments came in response to a post on X by the Russia-focused memecoin team at “Vladcoin,” which said that “there should be an ETF that actively trades memecoins, buying and selling based on performance.”

An actively trading fund would “hold the promising ones and sell off the weaker ones,” they added.

This differs from a non-active ETF, which provides exposure to a single asset rather than a dynamically changing basket of assets. 

All eyes on Dogecoin ETF

Balchunas added that once tokens are not included in the 1933 Securities Act, they can be included in an active ETF. He said the application for a Dogecoin (DOGE) ETF will “tell us a lot.” 

Several ETF issuers, including Grayscale, Bitwise and 21Shares, have filed for a spot Dogecoin ETF this year. 

Osprey Funds and Rex Shares submitted filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission for Dogecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP), and Bonk (BONK) ETFs in January. 

Polymarket odds drop to 44%

Balchunas said in February that there is a 75% chance that the SEC will approve a spot Dogecoin ETF this year, but odds on blockchain prediction platform Polymarket had fallen to 44%. 

The regulator has yet to approve a memecoin-based ETF or any other altcoins, such as Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), or Litecoin (LTC), which are among the slew of crypto ETF applications that have been filed this year. 

Related: More than 70 US crypto ETFs await SEC decision this year — Bloomberg

Memecoins melted down

The memecoin bubble peaked in January and has deflated since, with most higher capitalization tokens tumbling by more than 70% from their peak prices.

The official Trump coin failed to maintain momentum after the president’s son Eric said the family DeFi project, World Liberty Financial, planned to acquire a significant amount of the token on June 6.

TRUMP remains down 86% from its all-time high of 73% on Jan. 19, and most memecoins are in similar pain, with Dogecoin down 75%, Shiba Inu (SHIB) having lost 85% and Pepe (PEPE) slumping almost 60% from their respective all-time highs. 

Magazine: 1 in 6 new Base memecoins are scams, 91% have vulnerabilities