$TRUMP Meme Coin Frenzy Sets Off ETF Filings, Solana Trading Activity — WSJ
By Vicky Ge Huang36 OR MORE ETF FILINGSPresident Trump's meme-coin launch has taken the crypto world on a wild ride. Wall Street is eager to cash in on the trading frenzy.Asset managers have made at least 36 new filings to launch exchange-traded funds related to digital assets since Friday, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas.Among them, ETF issuer REX Financial on Tuesday filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch an ETF that would invest in the $TRUMP meme coin, according to a regulatory filing. Launched on Friday night, the $TRUMP token has soared in value and held a market cap of nearly $8 billion as of midday Wednesday, according to CoinMarketCap.REX Financial also seeks to launch six other crypto ETFs, including ones that would gain exposure to dogecoin, the shiba-inu themed meme coin supported by Tesla chief and Trump ally Elon Musk, and Bonk, another dog-themed meme coin, the filing shows.Money managers have been trying to put smaller and riskier tokens into the ETF wrapper after the massive success of the first U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, which have collectively attracted $39 billion in net flows since their launch last year. Several asset managers are seeking to launch ETFs that would hold solana and the Ripple-linked XRP token.By choosing to launch both $TRUMP and $MELANIA on the Solana blockchain, the president and first lady have helped fuel a surge in activity in the solana token.On crypto exchange Coinbase Global, users complained about hours-long delays when trying to send and receive solana tokens, leading to speculations that the exchange has run out of solana. Coinbase said in a post on the social-media platform X that the exchange's systems have been unable to handle the "unprecedented solana transaction activity" on the platform and users' funds are "safe and secure."Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong apologized for the troubles in a post early Wednesday, saying transactions should generate quickly again."The surge in activity is great for the ecosystem (and these are high quality problems to have), but we need to do a better job serving our customers during periods of high demand," he said.Read more about meme coins here:This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).