Bitwise Asset Management submitted a Form S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a spot Uniswap ETF backed directly by UNI. The main asset of the “Bitwise Uniswap ETF” would be UNI tokens, and would issue shares that trade on a U.S. stock exchange using an undisclosed ticker.
If the SEC approves the application, it would be the first exchange-traded fund in the U.S. to focus on a DeFi protocol’s native token. Bitwise is marketing the offering as a solution that gives investors regulated access to Uniswap through ordinary brokerage accounts rather than crypto wallets.
How The Uniswap ETF Would Work
According to the S‑1, the trust’s investment objective is to reflect the value of the fund’s UNI holdings, net of fees and expenses. Bitwise Investment Advisers will sponsor and manage the trust, while Coinbase Custody Trust Company will serve as custodian and hold the UNI tokens.
To track spot UNI prices as closely as possible, the ETF would not use derivatives or participate in UNI staking at launch. Shares would be issued and redeemed through approved participants in large blocks, similar to the structure used for spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
The governance token of the Uniswap decentralized exchange, UNI, is among the largest DEXs on Ethereum by trade volume and total value locked. Based on statistics in the filings and relevant coverage, UNI is among the top 40 cryptocurrency assets by market capitalization.
Why This Filing Matters For DeFi
Bitwise’s move comes after it registered a “Bitwise Uniswap ETF” statutory trust in Delaware in late January, a common first step before an SEC filing. The filing follows the SEC’s resolution of its 2025 investigation into Uniswap Labs, which removed a major legal overhang from the UNI token and gave issuers greater confidence to pursue regulated products.
The UNI ETF proposal marks a shift toward packaging DeFi blue chips into traditional wrappers, similar to earlier efforts with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and proposed ETFs for Ripple and Chainlink.
However, they caution that approval is far from guaranteed, as the SEC has not yet cleared any DeFi-token ETFs and may scrutinize governance, market-manipulation risks, and on‑chain concentration.
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