NYSE Arca, a securities exchange, asked United States regulators for permission to list a Grayscale exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding a diverse basket of spot cryptocurrencies, according to an Oct. 29 filing.
The Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund, which was created in 2018 but is not yet exchange-traded, holds a crypto index portfolio comprising Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL), among others.
It currently holds approximately $565 million in assets under management (AUM), according to Grayscale’s website.
Grayscale filed to convert the fund into an ETF on Oct. 16, only days before NYSE’s filing.
Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund holdings. Source: Grayscale
Related: SOL, XRP ETF filings are ‘call options’ on Trump win: Bloomberg analyst
Other proposed index funds, including those from asset managers Hashdex and Franklin Templeton, pose competition for Grayscale.
Grayscale’s fund is unique among proposed index ETFs in tracking a basket containing alternative cryptocurrencies, including Avalanche (AVAX) and XRP (XRP).
The fund tracks CoinDesk Large Cap Select Index and holds a total of five different crypto assets.
The Hashdex and Franklin Templeton funds aim to initially hold only Bitcoin and Ether.
Industry analysts say crypto index ETFs are the next big focus for issuers after ETFs holding BTC and ETH listed in January and July, respectively.
“The next logical step is index ETFs because indices are efficient for investors — just like how people buy the S&P 500 in an ETF. This will be the same in crypto,” Katalin Tischhauser, head of investment research at crypto bank Sygnum, told Cointelegraph in August.
Some crypto indexes only track Bitcoin and Ether. Source: Nasdaq
Asset managers and exchanges are filing to register a flurry of proposed crypto products in what analysts are dubbing a “call option” on the outcome of the US presidential election.
“If [former US president Donald] Trump wins […] he will definitely put in a more Libertarian [Securities and Exchange Commission] chair,” Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg ETF analyst, said during the Plan B Forum conference in October.
“So, if you see a Trump victory, watch this space, and if you see a [Kamala] Harris victory, just forget about it for a couple of years,” Balchunas said.
In July, securities exchange Cboe asked regulators for permission to list VanEck’s and 21Shares’ planned SOL ETFs.
In October, ETF issuers Canary Capital and Bitwise both filed for proposed XRP ETFs. Canary also filed to register a spot Litecoin (LTC) ETF on Oct. 15.
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