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- The competition for spot crypto ETFs is intensifying, as Shiba Inu’s price steadies following T. Rowe Price’s recent ETF filing.
- Rival tokens, including DOGE, SOL, ADA, and XRP, are likewise under the microscope, with several ETF applications already lined up.
T. Rowe Price, one of America’s most established investment firms with $1.77 trillion in assets under management, founded in 1937, has submitted an S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch its first cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF).
T. Rowe Price now joins a fast-growing list of applicants seeking approval. In fact, the SEC is currently reviewing more than 150 crypto-related ETF and ETP filings. According to the filing, the proposed ETF would hold a diversified basket of between five and fifteen digital assets, offering exposure to the crypto market.
Among the initial “eligible assets” is Shiba Inu (SHIB), the world’s second-largest meme coin with a market capitalization of roughly $6 billion. Its inclusion reflects both SHIB’s popularity and the growing recognition that even meme-driven tokens command real investor interest.
The move could allow traditional financial institutions to tap into SHIB’s retail fanbase, blending institutional strategy with community-driven enthusiasm.
Other assets listed as eligible holdings include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), Litecoin (LTC), Polkadot (DOT), Dogecoin (DOGE), Chainlink (LINK), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Hedera (HBAR), and Stellar (XLM).
Pathway Clears for SHIB ETFs
In September 2025, Rex Financial and Osprey Funds launched DOJE, the world’s first Dogecoin ETF. Debuting on September 18, the ETF marked a historic milestone, the first time a memecoin has been formally introduced to traditional financial markets through a regulated product. At that time, this reignited the discussion about whether Shiba Inu could be next.
Shiba Inu is already listed on major global exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken. SHIB now exhibits many of the same characteristics that paved the way for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs: strong liquidity, broad adoption, and deep retail engagement.
If approved, an SHIB ETF could also channel institutional attention toward the project’s ecosystem, particularly its Shibarium layer-2 network, LEASH, and the governance token BONE. Unlike Dogecoin, Shiba Inu has developed a robust infrastructure and utility layer, giving it a more substantive foundation that could appeal to both regulators and institutional investors.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has recently adopted new generic listing standards for spot cryptocurrency ETFs. This update effectively opens the door for a wider range of tokens, including Shiba Inu, to qualify for exchange-traded products.
Under the new framework, exchanges can list crypto-based ETPs without going through the traditional, months-long approval process, as long as the underlying asset has an active futures market that’s been trading for at least six months on a CFTC exchange.
Shiba Inu meets the SEC’s updated standards, with Coinbase Derivatives confirming that its “1k Shib (SHB)” futures have been trading since July 15, 2024, comfortably exceeding the six-month threshold. Even so, no immediate approvals are expected, as the federal government shutdown currently delays ETF decisions.
Shiba Inu is trading around $0.00001014, up 7% over the past week as market sentiment continues to improve. Despite the price uptick, trading activity in SHIB derivatives has cooled, with volume down nearly 61% to $12.75 million.
SHIB’s open interest, a measure of active futures contracts, has edged slightly lower by 0.26%, totaling $12.45 million.
