Cboe BZX requested a specific exemption from the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 10 to list six Volatility Shares funds that aim to deliver three times the daily return of Bitcoin and Ethereum futures, using CME futures contracts rather than direct crypto holdings. The proposal remains pending, and an SEC notice dated Aug. 14 indicated that the registration statement was not yet effective and that the shares had not been authorized for trading.

The funds would be organized as a series of the VS Trust, registered as commodity pools with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and would rely on daily rebalancing to maintain the 3x exposure. The filing invokes a Section 19(b) request because the 3x target conflicts with Cboe’s standard commodity‑trust listing rules. Sponsorship would be provided by Volatility Shares LLC, with administration by US Bancorp Fund Services and custodial services by US Bank National Association. Unlike the existing 2x Bitcoin (BITX) and Ethereum (ETHU) ETFs, which recorded NAV declines of 29.8% in the most recent quarter and 78.9% over one year, the 3x funds’ performance would depend on daily compounding, futures roll, financing costs, and tracking error.

Risks stem from the daily reset mechanism, which can cause returns to diverge substantially from three times the benchmark over longer periods. A hypothetical illustration shows that a 10% benchmark move followed by a 10% gain leaves a 2x fund 4% lower and a 3x fund 9% lower after two days, excluding fees and other costs. The filing does not provide launch asset levels or flow forecasts, and execution would depend on fund size, liquidity, investor creations and redemptions, and the instruments used.

SEC approval would address the specific exchange‑rule issue but would not complete the separate registration and trading approvals required before the funds could launch. The agency continues to review whether increasingly complex leveraged ETFs are appropriate for retail investors.