There was some sweet news last week for one commodity and the single ETF focused on it: Coca-Cola is planning to add a cane-sugar based version of its flagship beverage in the US.

During the company’s quarterly earnings call last Tuesday, CEO James Quincey alluded to Coca-Cola using the natural sweetener, seemingly a nod to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign against high-fructose corn syrup, and other processed food additives. That development isn’t all fizz, but the team behind the Teucrium Sugar Fund (CANE) is also not overly saccharine. A cane-sugar version of Coca-Cola could boost demand for sugar, though the country is hardly turning away from high-fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners.

Teucrium, which also runs the Corn Fund (CORN) and 2x Daily Corn ETF (CXRN), doesn’t see a drop in demand for corn — the key ingredient in high-fructose corn syrup — as a result of Coca-Cola’s change or pressure from the Trump administration. “It’s not a one-to-one net negative. There are just too many factors at play. Policy is huge in agriculture,” said Jake Hanley, senior portfolio specialist at Teucrium.

Sugar Rush

Since President Donald Trump said publicly that Coca-Cola would be switching outright to cane sugar — something the company has not indicated it would do — interest in Teucrium’s ETF spiked, Hanley said. The fund is small, at just $14 million in assets, but trading volume reached its highest point in two years on July 17. More widely, investors bought commodities ETFs this year, partly for diversification as well as for opportunities they see from Trump’s tariffs, said Todd Rosenbluth, head of research and editorial atand TMX VettaFi.

Data from that firm show:

• $24 billion flowed into commodity ETFs year to date as of July 23.
• Most of that went to gold ETFs, but there has also been demand for broad commodities ETFs, as evidenced by $417 million going to the Invesco Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF (PDBC) and $289 million to the abrdn Bloomberg All Commodity Strategy K-1 Free ETF.

Getting Granular: Outside of the US, the nearest large sugar trader is Brazil, which is trying to negotiate a way out of the 50% import tariffs Trump is pushing. “If we do have poor growing conditions, poor global sugar harvest going forward, we are working off of a new demand scenario,” Hanley said. “That just makes prices more susceptible to supply shock.”

Another diversified crypto ETF has been moved to the back burner.

Bitwise’s application seeking the SEC’s signoff to convert its crypto index fund to an ETF, which would offer investors exposure to a broader portfolio of digital assets including XRP and Polkadot, was delayed on Tuesday after being approved by the regulatory body’s trading and markets division earlier that day. Other similar filings from Grayscale and 21Shares to launch diversified crypto ETFs have also been put on hold, the latest signs of hesitation from an agency operating in what is arguably the most crypto-friendly political environment to date.

While the demurring showed the degree of scrutiny regulators are applying to new crypto products, it nonetheless raised some eyebrows. “It honestly is really confusing. I don’t think there’s a clear reason why they’ve approved and then placed [Bitwise’s application] on hold,” said Roxanna Islam, head of sector and industry research at VettaFi. “It’s not really a common occurrence to do that.”

Holding Pattern

The issue is less about the structure of the funds themselves than about internal regulatory disarray at the SEC, Islam said. “There’s still not a clear regulatory framework, especially for these newer types of products,” she added. “They are trying to get some things sorted out internally before these are officially launched.” If the SEC approves both products simultaneously, it could blunt Grayscale’s first-mover advantage. The two managers’ crypto index ETF filings are:

• Bitwise’s 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW), which would hold 90% of its assets in Bitcoin and Ether, with the rest spread across other digital assets like Solana, XRP and Polkadot and rebalanced monthly.
• Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC), which would place 80% of its assets into Bitcoin, with the rest devoted to Ether, XRP, Solana and Cardano.

There are some ETFs on the market that hold Bitcoin and Ether — the Franklin Crypto Index ETF (EZPZ) and the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF (NCIQ), for example — but nothing so far that holds anything else. Once pending proposals are approved, however, these issuers could launch their own multi-token indexes or add to current offerings.

It’s Not You, It’s the SEC. Procedural rules may also be slowing things down, Islam said. “Right now, the filing process is a little bit complex” since the agency recently updated its guidance on disclosures. “Maybe in the future, that would be simplified.”

Bob Doll’s latest mark on the religious-values firm Crossmark Global Investments is the introduction of two ETFs, the first such products that firm has offered in the wrapper.

Last week, the company launched its Crossmark Large Cap Growth and Large Cap Value ETFs, both of which are copies of strategies in separately managed accounts that Doll, the CEO, added to the company when he started there four years ago. The funds invest in Russell 1000 companies, excluding those involved in alcohol, tobacco, abortions, stem-cell research, adult entertainment or cannabis. The corresponding SMAs have beaten their benchmarks and have pulled in new money, reaching a combined total of about $700 million. But, as Doll said he told his company, “we can be a firm if we don’t have ETFs — but if we really want to thrive we need ETFs.”

Spreading the Gospel

About two-thirds of Crossmark’s assets are in portfolios with religious values screens, Doll said. “We’re very broad-based. Our goal is to avoid products that are designed to maim or kill people,” he told ETF Upside. The firm could eventually have six to eight ETFs in its lineup, he noted.

While there are more than 40 US ETFs with Christian or Sharia-compliant investment strategies, financial advisors said there is room for more products:

• “The number of religious-specific ETFs is still rather low, resulting in ETFs that are built for a broader client base,” said Omen Quelvog, founder of Formynder Wealth Management. “The difficulty there is the number of holdings that could still cause a conflict.”
• “Some are solid, but many are too generic and often don’t show clearly what’s inside them. That lack of clarity doesn’t work for values-based families who want more intention behind their investments,” said Daniel Goodman, founder of Good Better Best Financial Planning. “That’s why I often use direct indexing.”

Branches and Denominations: Crossmark and others provide a range of strategies to reflect nuances in faith, though it can be difficult to offer something for everyone. “As a Catholic myself, I appreciate the attempt to create religious ETFs,” said Alvin Carlos, managing partner of District Capital Management. “But I am skeptical about whether one can truly reflect one’s religious beliefs. There are so many angles to consider.”