Notice2025-10883

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Nasdaq Stock Market LLC; Order Instituting Proceedings To Determine Whether To Approve or Disapprove a Proposed Rule Change, as Modified by Amendment No. 1, To List and Trade Shares of the Canary HBAR ETF Under Nasdaq Rule 5711(d) (Commodity Based Trust Shares)

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Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.

Published
June 16, 2025

Issuing agencies

Securities and Exchange Commission

Full Text

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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 114 (Monday, June 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25393-25395]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-10883]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-103217; File No. SR-NASDAQ-2025-018]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Nasdaq Stock Market LLC; Order 
Instituting Proceedings To Determine Whether To Approve or Disapprove a 
Proposed Rule Change, as Modified by Amendment No. 1, To List and Trade 
Shares of the Canary HBAR ETF Under Nasdaq Rule 5711(d) (Commodity 
Based Trust Shares)

June 10, 2025.

I. Introduction

    On February 21, 2025, The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (``Exchange'') 
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission''), 
pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act'') \1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ a proposed rule change to 
list and trade shares (``Shares'') of the Canary HBAR ETF (``Trust'') 
under Nasdaq Rule 5711(d) (Commodity-Based Trust Shares). On March 4, 
2025, the Exchange filed

[[Page 25394]]

Amendment No. 1 to the proposed rule change, which replaced and 
superseded the original filing in its entirety. The proposed rule 
change, as modified by Amendment No. 1, was published for comment in 
the Federal Register on March 13, 2025.\3\
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
    \3\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 102540 (Mar. 7, 
2025), 90 FR 12008 (``Notice''). Comments received on the proposed 
rule change are available at: <a href="https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-nasdaq-2025-018/srnasdaq2025018.htm">https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-nasdaq-2025-018/srnasdaq2025018.htm</a>.
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    On April 24, 2025, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act,\4\ the 
Commission designated a longer period within which to approve the 
proposed rule change, disapprove the proposed rule change, or institute 
proceedings to determine whether to disapprove the proposed rule 
change.\5\ This order institutes proceedings under Section 19(b)(2)(B) 
of the Act \6\ to determine whether to approve or disapprove the 
proposed rule change, as modified by Amendment No. 1.
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    \4\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2).
    \5\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 102924, 90 FR 17987 
(Apr. 30, 2025). The Commission designated June 11, 2025, as the 
date by which the Commission shall approve or disapprove, or 
institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the 
proposed rule change, as modified by Amendment No. 1.
    \6\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B).
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II. Summary of the Proposal, as Modified by Amendment No. 1

    As described in more detail in the Notice,\7\ the Exchange proposes 
to list and trade the Shares of the Trust under Nasdaq Rule 5711(d), 
which governs the listing and trading of Commodity-Based Trust Shares 
on the Exchange.
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    \7\ See Notice, supra note 3.
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    According to the Exchange, the investment objective of the Trust is 
to seek to provide exposure to the value of the native asset of the 
Hedera Network (``HBAR'') \8\ held by the Trust, less the expenses of 
the Trust's operations and other liabilities.\9\ In seeking to achieve 
its investment objective, the Trust will hold HBAR and will establish 
its net asset value by referencing the price of HBAR in U.S. Dollars as 
calculated by the CoinDesk Hedera USD CCIX 30min NY Rate (``Pricing 
Benchmark'').\10\ The Trust's assets will consist only of HBAR and 
cash.\11\ When the Trust sells or redeems its Shares, it will do so in 
cash or in-kind transactions with authorized participants in blocks of 
10,000 Shares.\12\
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    \8\ The Exchange states that the Hedera Network is a distributed 
ledger technology network built on a hashgraph distributed consensus 
algorithm. For further description of HBAR and the Hedera Network, 
see Notice at 12009.
    \9\ See id. at 12008. Canary Capital Group LLC is the sponsor of 
the Trust, and CSC Delaware Trust Company is the trustee. BitGo 
Trust Company, Inc. and Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC will be 
responsible for the custody of the Trust's HBAR. See id.
    \10\ See id. The Pricing Benchmark is calculated by CoinDesk 
Indices, Inc. based on an aggregation of executed trade flow of 
major HBAR trading platforms. See id.
    \11\ See id.
    \12\ See id. at 12008-09, 12010-11.
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III. Proceedings To Determine Whether To Approve or Disapprove SR-
NASDAQ-2025-018 and Grounds for Disapproval Under Consideration

    The Commission is instituting proceedings pursuant to Section 
19(b)(2)(B) of the Act \13\ to determine whether the proposed rule 
change, as modified by Amendment No. 1, should be approved or 
disapproved. Institution of proceedings is appropriate at this time in 
view of the legal and policy issues raised by the proposed rule change. 
Institution of proceedings does not indicate that the Commission has 
reached any conclusions with respect to any of the issues involved. 
Rather, the Commission seeks and encourages interested persons to 
provide comments on the proposed rule change.
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    \13\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B).
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    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(2)(B) of the Act,\14\ the Commission is 
providing notice of the grounds for disapproval under consideration. 
The Commission is instituting proceedings to allow for additional 
analysis of the proposed rule change's consistency with Section 6(b)(5) 
of the Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a 
national securities exchange be ``designed to prevent fraudulent and 
manipulative acts and practices'' and ``to protect investors and the 
public interest.'' \15\
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    \14\ Id.
    \15\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
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    The Commission asks that commenters address the sufficiency of the 
Exchange's statements in support of the proposal, which are set forth 
in the Notice, in addition to any other comments they may wish to 
submit about the proposed rule change. In particular, the Commission 
seeks comment on whether the proposal to list and trade Shares of the 
Trust, which would hold HBAR, is designed to prevent fraudulent and 
manipulative acts and practices or raises any new or novel concerns not 
previously contemplated by the Commission.

IV. Procedure: Request for Written Comments

    The Commission requests that interested persons provide written 
submissions of their views, data, and arguments with respect to the 
issues identified above, as well as any other concerns they may have 
with the proposal. In particular, the Commission invites the written 
views of interested persons concerning whether the proposal, as 
modified by Amendment No. 1, is consistent with Section 6(b)(5) or any 
other provision of the Act, and the rules and regulations thereunder. 
Although there do not appear to be any issues relevant to approval or 
disapproval that would be facilitated by an oral presentation of views, 
data, and arguments, the Commission will consider, pursuant to Rule 
19b-4, any request for an opportunity to make an oral presentation.\16\
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    \16\ Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, as amended by the Securities 
Acts Amendments of 1975, Public Law 94-29 (June 4, 1975), grants the 
Commission flexibility to determine what type of proceeding--either 
oral or notice and opportunity for written comments--is appropriate 
for consideration of a particular proposal by a self-regulatory 
organization. See Securities Acts Amendments of 1975, Senate Comm. 
on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs, S. Rep. No. 75, 94th Cong., 1st 
Sess. 30 (1975).
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    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments regarding whether the proposed rule change, as modified by 
Amendment No. 1, should be approved or disapproved by July 7, 2025. Any 
person who wishes to file a rebuttal to any other person's submission 
must file that rebuttal by July 21, 2025.
    Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:

Electronic Comments

    <bullet> Use the Commission's internet comment form (<a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml">https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml</a>); or
    <bullet> Send an email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7c0e091019511f1311111912080f3c0f191f521b130a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4032352c256d232f2d2d252e3433003325236e272f36">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Please include 
file number SR-NASDAQ-2025-018 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

    <bullet> Send paper comments in triplicate to Secretary, Securities 
and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to file number SR-NASDAQ-2025-018. This 
file number should be included on the subject line if email is used. To 
help the Commission process and review your comments more efficiently, 
please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on 
the Commission's internet website (<a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml">https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml</a>). Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all 
written statements with respect to the proposed rule change that are 
filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating to 
the proposed rule change between the Commission and any person, other 
than

[[Page 25395]]

those that may be withheld from the public in accordance with the 
provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for website viewing and 
printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F Street NE, 
Washington, DC 20549, on official business days between the hours of 10 
a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of the filing also will be available for 
inspection and copying at the principal office of the Exchange. Do not 
include personal identifiable information in submissions; you should 
submit only information that you wish to make available publicly. We 
may redact in part or withhold entirely from publication submitted 
material that is obscene or subject to copyright protection. All 
submissions should refer to file number SR-NASDAQ-2025-018 and should 
be submitted on or before July 7, 2025. Rebuttal comments should be 
submitted by July 21, 2025.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\17\
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    \17\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(57).
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Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-10883 Filed 6-13-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P


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