21Shares Files for Hyperliquid ETF

Crypto investment firm 21Shares filed an S-1 form on Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a Hyperliquid ETF. This filing follows a registration of the ETF in Delaware.

According to the latest US SEC filing on October 29, the ETF is designed as a passive investment vehicle. Its returns will be generated solely by tracking the spot price of HYPE. This means the sponsor will not engage in selling HYPE at high prices or acquiring it at low prices with the expectation of future price increases. Furthermore, the 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF will not utilize leverage, derivatives, or any similar arrangements to meet its investment objective.

The key entities involved in this ETF are: 21Shares US LLC as the sponsor, CSC Delaware Trust Company as the trustee of the Trust, and Coinbase Custody and BitGo Trust serving as the custodians.

Context: Previous Filings and Market Interest

This latest filing comes after 21Shares previously submitted an application for a 2x leveraged HYPE ETF with the U.S SEC in October. This move occurred amidst other issuers, such as Bitwise and VanEck, also filing for HYPE ETFs.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas commented on the 21Shares filing, suggesting its niche focus might lead to success. He drew parallels to the significant surge in thematic ETFs, referencing earlier booms in smart beta and currency-hedged products. If approved, this ETF would represent the first U.S.-listed leveraged ETF designed to track the fee and perpetual market performance of a live DeFi protocol.

Earlier reports indicated that VanEck had filed for a spot HYPE ETF in the U.S. and an ETP in Europe. VanEck CEO Jan van Eck's positive remarks about Hyperliquid's technology had previously fueled speculation within the crypto community.

HYPE Price Performance

The price of HYPE has demonstrated significant upward momentum. In the past 24 hours, HYPE price jumped over 2%, extending its weekly rally to nearly 40%. At the time of writing, the price was trading at $48.58, with an intraday low of $46.31 and a high of $49.41.

Despite the price surge, trading volume remained flat over the last 24 hours. This suggests a cautious sentiment among traders, particularly in anticipation of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision scheduled for today.

Data from CoinGlass indicated selling pressure in the derivatives market in recent hours. As of this writing, the 4-hour total Hyperliquid (HYPE) futures open interest saw an increase of over 3%, reaching $2.05 billion. Additionally, HYPE futures open interest on major exchanges like Binance, OKX, and Bybit experienced increases of more than 1.50%, 2%, and 5%, respectively, within the last 24 hours.