In brief
- Yorkville America Digital has filed an application for a Truth Social Bitcoin ETF.
- The filing with the SEC comes just two days after NYSE applied for a rule change that would enable the fund’s listing.
- Yorkville registered the fund as a Nevada business trust.
The issuer for the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF submitted an application for the fund to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.
The S-1 registration statement arrives two days after the New York Stock Exchange Arca submitted a 19b-4 rule change to list the exchange-traded fund.
Yorkville America Digital will manage the the fund, if it receives approval. That’s the same company through which the Trump Media & Technology Group and Crypto.com plan to debut a suite of “America first” funds.
The other proposed funds include America First Bitcoin Fund (AFBF), America First Blockchain Leaders Fund (AFBLF), and the America First Stablecoin Income Fund. But the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF is the only one with an S-1 registration, so far.
Yorkville registered the fund as a Nevada business trust and would offer shares representing fractional ownership in its Bitcoin. The vast majority of ETFs file as Delaware statutory trusts, which means there’s a wealth of legal precedent and case law as guardrails.
Yorkville America Digital didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.
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The filing says the fund will use Foris DAX Trust Company as its Bitcoin custodian. The only other fund that lists the company as its custodian is the not yet approved Canary Staked CRO ETF, which filed its own S-1 a week ago.
The custodian marks a break from existing spot Bitcoin ETFs, like iShares Bitcoin Trust and the Fidelity Bitcoin Trust, which use Coinbase Custody and Fidelity Digital Assets to safeguard their BTC.
The S-1 doesn’t list firms or names for its cash custodian, transfer agent, or trust administrator. And since the filing is only a prospectus, it doesn’t yet list a ticker.
Another Trump crypto project
Trump and his affiliated businesses have built a large portfolio of crypto projects—much to the chagrin of Democrat lawmakers.
His earliest crypto projects were NFT collections. In 2022, Trump debuted his first NFT collection. That was followed by two more collections in 2023, and another in August 2024 while he was campaigning for office.
Perhaps the best-known project has been the Official Trump meme coin. It launched just days before the President’s second inauguration. The president organized a crypto gala for the top holders of his meme coin, which drew protests. Registrants and attendees have since been airdropped “historic collector’s item” NFTs.
But before the president had even been re-elected, Trump was linked to the start of World Liberty Financial. The project has since introduced a WLFI governance token and USD1 stablecoin. The president’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., have been more closely linked to the project than their father. As things stand, the Trump family holds a 60% ownership stake in World Liberty Financial through its company DT Marks DeFi LLC, according to Reuters.
Edited by James Rubin
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