SEC Cracks Down on ETF Names That Could Be Misleading Investors

Exchange-traded funds looking to tap some of the hottest investment trends are going undercover.

A growing number of thematic ETFs are changing their identities before they even start trading to conform to a decades-old rule that dictates what issuers can and can’t call their strategies. More than a third of such funds started last year tweaked their names during the regulator’s approval process, filings show; one fund that initially included blockchain in its name is now described as a “transformational data sharing” ETF.

It’s all part of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s attempt to get a handle on the ...