First NEAR ETF Joins Race of Altcoins Targeting Wall Street

Bitwise Asset Management, a major name in crypto investing, has just filed a new application with the U.S. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)  to launch a spot Near Protocol (NEAR) ETF. This move puts NEAR among a growing list of altcoins that are now racing to win SEC approval for spot ETFs.

On May 6, Bitwise filed an S-1 form, which describes its plan to offer a NEAR ETF. It will track the price of the NEAR token. The objective of this fund is to make it easier for regular investors to buy into NEAR through regular stock markets rather than going through the process of cryptocurrency exchanges. However, details like its ticker symbol, the exact exchange it will trade on, and the fee charged to investors were not shared in the filing.

Coinbase Custody Named as Custodian

In the process of filing, Bitwise has listed Coinbase Custody as the only custodian of fund. It suggests that Coinbase will be accountable for securely storing the NEAR tokens that back the ETF shares. 

To complete the process of SEC approval, Bitwise will also need to submit a 19b-4 form. This step is necessary for the SEC to review and decide on allowing the ETF to trade on U.S. markets. The asset management organisation had already taken steps toward this in late April when it registered a trust for the NEAR ETF in Delaware. The coin is currently trading at $2.31 with a market cap of $2.79 billion as of now as per CoinMarketCap. 

NEAR Joins the Growing List of Altcoin ETF Hopefuls

NEAR is not the only altcoin fighting for a place on Wall Street. Bitwise has also filed for spot ETFs tied to Dogecoin (DOGE), XRP and Solana (SOL). Other asset managers have submitted proposals for coins like Litecoin, Avalanche, Cardano, Hedera, Chainlink, Sui, and Aptos.

The spot ETFs of BTC and Ethereum have received the approval from SEC as of now. Bitwise already has both of these tokens live on the NYSE Arca exchange. 

NEAR Protocol Ecosystem

NEAR is the token behind the Near blockchain, a smart contract platform that was previously referred to as an "Ethereum killer" due to its high speeds and low costs. The Near network uses an exclusive system known as Nightshade sharding. This system enables it to process around 100,000 transactions per second. It's protected by more than 260 validators, which assist in keeping the network secure and decentralized. 

The Near team changed direction from DeFi to AI, with ambitious plans to create the world's largest open-source large language model.

Final Thoughts

This move by Bitwise to list a spot NEAR Exchange traded fundsdemonstrates an increasing interest towards altcoins. If the SEC starts to approve these funds more often, it will create a path for institutional investors to make investments in budding crypto projects, but with a regulated and secure manner. The advanced technology of NEAR and the emphasise AI make this token to watch out its approval journey. 


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