Canary Capital Files for First U.S. HBAR ETF

Canary Capital Group has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch the first U.S. ETF tracking HBAR, the native cryptocurrency of the Hedera Network, according to a registration statement.

The Nashville-based investment firm's filing comes as issuers look to capitalize on growing investor demand for cryptocurrency exposure beyond bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

According to the filing, the proposed Canary HBAR ETF aims to track HBAR’s performance as measured by a pricing benchmark that references HBAR prices in U.S. dollars from CoinDesk’s financial data service.

Canary's latest move follows its October debut of the Canary HBAR Trust, which was the first HBAR investment vehicle in the U.S. market—though only available to accredited investors.

“The accelerating demand for crypto offerings seems to be exponential since this year’s launch of Spot Bitcoin ETFs, yet there remains a gap regarding firms with institutional experience who are willing to continue to innovate and deliver solutions beyond retail products,” Steven McClurg, Chief Executive Officer at Canary Capital, said in October when launching the trust.

HBAR’s Role in Hedera

According to CoinMarketCap data, HBAR serves as both the native currency and security mechanism for the Hedera Network, a distributed ledger platform focused on enterprise applications. The token enables network participants to stake assets, pay for services, and secure their network through its consensus mechanism.

HBAR was launched in August 2018 by Dr. Leemon Baird and Mance Harmon through the Hedera Hashgraph network, according to CoinMarketCap. The token is currency trading at $0.06, up 2.4% over the past 24 hours, and is worth about $2.3 billion, making it the 45th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Wave of Crypto ETF Filings

Canary’s HBAR ETF filing adds to a growing list of proposed cryptocurrency ETFs. In October, the firm filed for an XRP ETF, following Bitwise Asset Management’s filing for a similar product. The company also recently filed for a spot Litecoin ETF.

The surge in cryptocurrency ETF filings comes amid strong investor interest, with spot bitcoin ETFs gathering $4.7 billion in inflows since Nov. 6, and over $28 billion since launching in January, according to U.K. asset manager Farside Investors.

Canary will need to secure both SEC approval of its registration statement and an exchange’s approval to list and trade the ETF shares. The filing did not include a proposed ticker or expense ratio.