What to know:

• Canary Capital, led by former Valkyrie Funds co-founder Steven McClurg, has filed with the SEC to launch an ETF tracking Axelar’s AXL token.
• Axelar, a cross-chain protocol connecting blockchains, has been integrated by major players like J.P. Morgan, Microsoft, Uniswap, and MetaMask.
• Former Coinbase legal chief Brian Brooks has joined Axelar’s new Institutional Advisory Board as the project focuses on regulatory alignment and institutional adoption.

Canary Capital, the digital asset-focused investment firm founded by former Valkyrie Funds co-founder Steven McClurg, is planning to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the price of Axelar (AXL).

The firm submitted an S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, initiating the process to launch this fund. The hedge fund has previously filed paperwork for several other ETFs, some of which have already been recognized by the Commission and await approval.

“Axelar has one of the best dev teams in blockchain. Most viable protocols work with them on chain interoperability,” said Steven McClurg, CEO at Canary Capital. “There is no question that AXL will be a top 20 token by market capitalization as the market discovers them. This is why we took the risk.”

AXL is the native token of the Axelar Network, a cross-chain protocol that connects other blockchains, enabling decentralized, secure cross-chain transactions. Unlike many interoperability solutions that rely on a small set of validators, Axelar operates on a proof-of-stake consensus model, allowing anyone to participate in its network, said Sergey Gorbunov, co-founder of Axelar, in an interview with CoinDesk.

The protocol has been integrated by J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys platform, Microsoft’s Azure marketplace, Uniswap, and MetaMask, and announced that former Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Brian Brooks has joined its newly formed Institutional Advisory Board.

“Brian comes with a pretty deep understanding of how to ensure that blockchain is adopted by traditional finance,” said Gorbunov. “He understands what pain points these asset issuers have and believes decentralized interoperability is crucial to avoid introducing all of those issues in the process.”

AXL is currently trading at $0.36 with a market cap of $340 million, according to CoinDesk data. It reached an all-time high of $2.69 in March 2024 but has since declined.