A Nasdaq proposal to list the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF was published in the Federal Register on July 2, 2024, placing a proposed fund holding both spot bitcoin and spot ether into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s formal public-comment process.
The development mattered because the proposed trust would combine the two crypto assets in one exchange-traded product rather than offer exposure to either asset separately. The SEC had approved spot-bitcoin exchange-traded product proposals on January 10, 2024 and exchange rule changes for ether-based products on May 23, but the Hashdex filing tested whether the regulatory reasoning applied to a market-cap-weighted, two-asset portfolio.
What Nasdaq proposed
Nasdaq originally filed SR-NASDAQ-2024-028 with the SEC on June 17, 2024. SEC Release No. 34-100434, issued June 26 and published July 2, solicited public comments on listing the shares under Nasdaq Rule 5711(d), which governed commodity-based trust shares.
The proposed trust would be managed and controlled by Hashdex Asset Management Ltd. and administered by Tidal ETF Services LLC. Its assets were expected to consist principally of bitcoin and ether, with cash held only for expenses. The filing identified Coinbase Custody Trust Company and BitGo Trust Company as intended crypto custodians, while U.S. Bank would hold cash or cash equivalents.
This was a proposal, not an approval or a trading launch. The filing expressly said the registration statement was not effective and the shares could not trade until it became effective. Federal Register publication began the statutory review process under which the SEC would approve, disapprove or open proceedings concerning the exchange rule change.
An index-weighted portfolio
The trust’s objective was to track daily changes in the Nasdaq Crypto US Settlement Price Index, identified as NCIUSS, after expenses and liabilities. The portfolio would obtain that exposure by buying spot bitcoin and spot ether rather than futures, leveraged instruments, tokenized assets or stablecoins.
As of the filing’s May 27, 2024 index snapshot, bitcoin carried a 70.54% weight and ether 29.46%. Those figures were not fixed allocations or July 2 market prices. They reflected relative free-float market capitalizations under the index methodology at a specified snapshot, with the index subject to quarterly reconstitution. If another asset became an index constituent, the filing said the trust would continue holding only bitcoin and ether through a sampling approach unless the regulatory structure changed.
The proposed fund also would not stake its ether or use it to generate additional income. Rights or assets arising from forks, airdrops or similar events were to be permanently abandoned. Those restrictions narrowed the product to price exposure and avoided introducing staking returns or additional token holdings into the initial regulatory analysis.
Why the structure mattered
Nasdaq argued that the proposal did not introduce a new underlying crypto asset because the SEC had already approved exchange proposals for products holding spot bitcoin and spot ether separately. It relied on the same basic surveillance theory: Nasdaq and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange participated in an information-sharing framework, while CME bitcoin and ether futures markets could assist surveillance for manipulation affecting related spot markets.
That was Nasdaq’s legal and market-structure argument, not a Commission finding on July 2. The SEC’s publication established that the proposal was under review; it did not endorse Hashdex, determine that the trust was suitable for any investor or establish that the product would attract assets or improve liquidity.
Later context
On December 19, 2024, the SEC approved the Nasdaq proposal as modified by a subsequent amendment. That later outcome confirms the proceeding’s eventual resolution but does not change the July 2 record: on July 2, approval, registration-statement effectiveness, a trading date, fees, launch assets and investor demand all remained unresolved.
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