The 17B Debut That Had Markets Gasping and Editors Smiling

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In the grand theatre of finance, a modest money market fund, devised for issuers grudging under the GENIUS Act, ascends to a new record of debut volubility, as if the ledger itself had learned to clap.

The ProShares GENIUS Money Market ETF (NYSE: IQMM) enjoys a resplendent $17 billion in trading volume, a performance that would make even a statue of Parthenon marble blush with envy.

For comparison’s sake, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) opened with $1 billion, while its ESG offspring tipped its hat to $2 billion. One might say the cosmos tilted in favor of spectacle-eight times the former record, if the oracle of Bloomberg ETF is to be believed.

“Insane: That $17B is going to show up as flows/assets tonight. Where is $ coming from? Either way, I was wrong about this ETF,” confessed the oracle Balchunas, the oracle’s oracle, with the zest of a critic who has misplaced his monocle and found a fortune.

Is Circle behind the record debut?

Responding to Balchunas, another sage of ETFs, Nate Geraci, offered his supposition with the gravity of a theatre critic weighing a matinee:

“Would assume ProShares cut a deal with one of the major U.S.-based stablecoin issuers…Looking at assets, believe that would only leave Circle.”

Yet Ben Johnson, head of client solutions at Morningstar, disenchanted the riddle by clarifying that the product was financed by other ProShares funds for the elegant art of cash management.

So, why this GENIUS Act-inspired dalliance? The U.S. stablecoin law furnishes a cabinet of reserve assets for issued stablecoins-cash and cash equivalents, short-dated U.S. Treasury bills, and money market funds devoted to cash management. A veritable cupboard of conveniences that makes redemption smoother and spares the bank from the melodrama of a run, or the broader caprices of market alarm.

And thus, the ProShares ETF stands: an MMF, but with the romance of stablecoin reserves, perhaps hoping issuers may find it a dashing choice for cash management too. Whether it will attract them remains a question that even a clever playwright might leave unanswered.

Why the SEC’s 2% ‘haircut’ is good for stablecoins

Meanwhile, the realm of stablecoins scores a small but lubricious victory courtesy of a recent SEC guideline. The regulator decreed that payment stablecoins shall now bear a 2% haircut, akin to their money market counterparts.

In days of yore, stablecoins bore a 100% haircut-the theatre of holding them yielded naught for capital purposes. If you held $100 million, you were told it was worth $0 for capital planning. Now, a more nuanced valuation places them at $98 million, enough to fund a few glittering trades and a few less glittering dreams.

The consequence: greater trading inventory, sweller loan capacity, plans for more audacious financial theatrics.

For Circle’s Jeremy Allaire, the tweak was a chorus of applause for stablecoin adoption-an aria in capital markets, if you will.

“This is a big win for USDC adoption in capital markets. Great progress.”

Final Summary

  • ProShares’ GENIUS Act-inspired ETF set a new record, hitting $17 billion in day-one trading volume.
  • Circle CEO hailed the SEC’s 2% haircut for stablecoins as a likely catalyst for USDC adoption.

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2026-02-21 17:11