Stock exchange operator Nasdaq has submitted a proposal to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revise the composition of the index tracked by the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF.
According to Form 8-K filed on June 2, the plan is to expand the index from five to nine assets — potentially including XRP, Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Stellar Lumens (XLM).
What Will Change in the Hashdex ETF
Currently, the ETF tracks the Nasdaq Crypto US Settlement Price Index (NCIUS), but under the new plan, it would switch to the broader Nasdaq Crypto Index (NCI). A decision on the application is expected by no later than November 2, 2025.
Although the existing index already includes six cryptocurrencies, the fund still holds only Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) due to current regulatory restrictions. Hashdex applies a selective mechanism to minimize divergence between the actual portfolio structure and the index, but cannot yet fully replicate it.
After the update, the NCI index would consist of nine assets: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Cardano, Stellar Lumens, Chainlink, Litecoin, and Uniswap.
Market Reaction Following the Filing
The document's release was accompanied by moderate market movement. At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $2.23, and Solana has rebounded to $151.47 after falling to $142 on Friday — a daily gain of 1,4% amid a 44% increase in trading volume.
Cardano remains under pressure, trading in the $0.67 range. Stellar Lumens also shows a weekly decline of 0,41%.
Changes in Hashdex Leadership
On the same day, June 2, leadership changes occurred at the company sponsoring the ETF. Bruno Leonardo Kmita de Oliveira Passos resigned from the Board of Directors and stepped down from his roles as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer of the fund. The report states that his departure was not due to disagreements over operational or other issues.
He has been replaced by Samir Elias Hachem Kerbage, who has served as Hashdex’s Chief Investment Officer since 2018 and oversees the company’s investment strategy.
Pressure on the SEC From Fund Managers
Following the index update, criticism of the SEC has intensified within the industry. On June 6, VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital submitted a joint letter to the regulator, urging a return to the "first filed, first approved" principle for reviewing exchange-traded crypto product (ETP) applications.
The authors criticized the simultaneous approval of applications regardless of submission date, claiming this puts early filers at a disadvantage. The letter references the case of ProShares — in 2021, its futures-based Bitcoin ETF was approved ahead of others and captured 90% of the market in its early trading days.
The SEC used a similar approach in 2024 when it approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs simultaneously, followed by Ethereum products. VanEck and 21Shares had filed their applications long before their competitors but received approval at the same time as later entrants.
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