The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has officially recognized Nasdaq’s proposal to list and trade shares of the Grayscale Hedera Trust.
As detailed in a notice from March 11, the SEC has acknowledged Nasdaq’s 19b-4 filing for a commodity-based trust that holds HBAR, aimed at providing investors with regulated access to the native token of the Hedera Network.
This structure allows for direct ownership of HBAR, with shares representing a fractional stake in the trust’s HBAR assets. However, unlike a spot ETF, it prohibits direct redemptions, which means shares might trade at either a premium or discount compared to the underlying asset value.
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing will handle the administration and transfer agent responsibilities for the trust, while CSC Delaware Trust Company will serve as the trustee, and Coinbase Custody Trust Company will oversee asset custody.
With this acknowledgment, the SEC has initiated a 21-day public comment period, providing industry stakeholders and the public an opportunity to share their views on the proposal. Following this period, the regulator will determine whether to approve, dismiss, or prolong its review process.
HBAR reacted positively to this news, experiencing a more than 7% increase in value over the past 24 hours.
Currently, Grayscale and Canary Capital are the only asset managers actively seeking HBAR ETFs.
While the SEC acknowledged Nasdaq’s application for the Grayscale Hedera Trust, it simultaneously postponed its decision on various altcoin ETFs, including Grayscale’s XRP ETF and the Cboe BZX Exchange’s spot Solana ETF, extending the review deadline to May.
Nonetheless, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart dismissed the delay, describing it as routine and not a cause for concern.
As previously noted, the SEC has been inundated with ETF applications following Trump’s election and the departure of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
The most recent entry to this influx is Bitwise’s Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF, revealed on March 11. This fund aims to track publicly traded companies that hold at least 1,000 BTC in their corporate reserves, providing investors with exposure to firms accumulating Bitcoin.