ETF Stands for 'Everything That Fits'

First Bitcoin, then Ethereum, now Solana. ETF issuers will stop at nothing so long as they believe they can make money.

A glance at the U.S. Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) market reveals a vast and diverse landscape. According to the Investment Company Institute's 2023 statistics, the ETF industry boasts an impressive $8 trillion in assets, with 218 firms offering a total of 3,108 ETFs. This immense scale is largely attributed to the ease with which ETFs can be tailored to specific investment strategies.

For instance, investors seeking exposure to healthcare or consumer discretionary goods can opt for sector ETFs. Alternatively, those aiming to allocate the bulk of their portfolio to the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 can acquire Invesco's ETF QQQ, which tracks the index. Virtually any investment concept can be realized through an ETF.

This broad spectrum of ETFs extends to more lighthearted and even outlandish ideas. Young investors looking to amplify their Nasdaq-100 exposure and accelerate their gains can opt for TQQQ, which operates similarly to QQQ but with the key difference being that it goes up (and down) three times as fast (this is achieved through debt, or leverage, hence the term “triple levered ETFs”).

Moreover, there was once an ETF that even Jesus would likely approve of, namely WWJD. And for those who discerned virtue in vice and wished to invest in worldly sins, there was VICE. Interestingly, there was also an ETF that catered to those who wholeheartedly rejected the investment advice of CNBC's Jim Cramer. This ETF, known as SJIM, meticulously followed the exact opposite of Cramer's advice (not for nothing, this ETF no longer exists, but it used to!).

Keeping these examples in mind, it's evident that the narrative was never going to be “the Bitcoin ETF is the only ETF that will exist because bitcoin is better than the others and the SEC knows this.”

Two years ago I covered this topic in an article titled:

Philosophically, it didn’t matter if cryptos were securities then, and it doesn’t matter now. So now the Bitcoin spot ETF has come to the U.S. and next comes one for Ethereum and then the next one and the next and the next until we finally stop and ask ourselves: What exactly is stopping the potential issuance of a meme coin ETF? Before you answer: “meme coins are securities,” remember that plenty of ETFs have securities in them (QQQ, TQQQ, WWJD, VICE).

As long as regulators continue permitting new and exciting crypto ETFs, then the firms that provide ETFs will keep bringing them to market, because that's what they do for a living. They create ETFs, investors buy them, and the providers collect a fee for managing them.

Even though it seems now that if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it will be stuffed à la turducken into an ETF, I do believe that cooler heads will (eventually) prevail, among investors and/or regulators. Even if it takes a Duckley ETF for that to happen.

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