Bitwise files to list a spot Aptos ETF — the 36th largest cryptocurrency

Crypto asset manager Bitwise has filed to list a spot Aptos exchange-traded fund in the US — a token created by a team led by two former Facebook (now Meta) employees in 2022.

Bitwise filed an S-1 registration statement to list the Bitwise Aptos (APT) ETF on March 5, eight days after Bitwise indicated it would make such a filing when it registered a trust linked to the Aptos ETF in Delaware on Feb. 28.

The Aptos filing adds to the list of altcoins currently in the line to win the securities regulator’s approval.

Bitwise opted not to include a staking feature for the proof-of-stake powered Aptos blockchain and listed Coinbase Custody as the proposed custodian of the spot Aptos ETF. It has yet to specify which stock exchange it would be listed on.

A proposed fee or ticker wasn’t included either. Bitwise will also need to file a 19b-4 form for its Aptos ETF application and for the SEC to acknowledge it before the 240-day clock begins for the SEC to make a decision.

The Aptos filing marks Bitwise’s latest effort to expand from the spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs it currently has on offer. It has also recently filed to list a spot Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP) and Dogecoin (DOGE) ETFs in recent months.

While Bitwise’s other US spot ETF filings have been aimed at the top tokens by market capitalization, Aptos appears to be an outlier, ranking 36th by market capitalization of $3.8 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Aptos was developed by Aptos Labs, a company founded by two former Facebook employees, Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, in 2021. 

It emerged as a potential “Solana killer” when it launched in October 2022 as a high-speed, low-cost layer-1 blockchain. However, its market cap is currently only one-nineteenth the size of Solana’s, CoinGecko data shows.

APT is up 14.4% over the last 24 hours to $6.25, CoinGecko data shows.

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Aptos boasts the 11th largest total value locked among blockchains at $1.03 billion, according to DefiLlama data. Over $830 million of that consists of stablecoins.

Real-world assets such as Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX) have also been tokenized on the Aptos blockchain.

Bitwise isn’t a stranger to Aptos, having launched an Aptos Staking ETP on Switzerland’s SIX Swiss Exchange in November that offers a 4.7% return on staking yield.

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