Bitwise files to launch NEAR ETF in Delaware as SEC warms to crypto funds under Trump

An exchange-traded fund entity tracking NEAR has been filed as a Delaware trust company by crypto asset manager Bitwise. 

According to the Delaware site, a "Bitwise NEAR ETF" was filed on Thursday, marking an initial step in the process to launch an ETF. Bitwise Asset Management CEO and co-founder Hunter Horsley confirmed to The Block on Friday that the firm made that Delaware filing. 

NEAR is ranked the 43rd largest crypto by market capitalization and has risen slightly over the past few days to just over $2.60, according to The Block price data. 

Funds tracking crypto, including Dogecoin, Aptos and XRP have previously been filed in Delaware as well for Bitwise. Later, registration statements for the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF, an Aptos ETF, among others, were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and are awaiting a potential sign-off to begin trading. 

Bitwise and several other firms have been looking to launch a variety of crypto ETFs over the past few months as the SEC has taken a significantly friendlier approach to crypto than under the Biden administration. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the SEC has dropped several lawsuits against crypto firms and has held public crypto roundtables to discuss how to regulate the industry. 

Under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the agency approved the listing of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024 and spot Ethereum ETFs later in July, following a decisive court ruling brought on by Grayscale. Now, the SEC is weighing dozens of proposals for ETFs ranging from tracking Solana to XRP to Dogecoin.