In brief
- GLNK opened on NYSE Arca as the first U.S. spot Chainlink ETF after converting from a private trust.
- Grayscale told Decrypt the launch relied on SEC guidance issued during the government shutdown.
- GLNK saw more than 1.17 million shares traded on debut, far above typical volume levels for the product.
Grayscale launched its Grayscale Chainlink Trust ETF (GLNK) on NYSE Arca on Tuesday, becoming the first spot Chainlink exchange-traded product to reach the U.S. market.
The conversion shifts the vehicle from a private trust into an ETF holding Chainlink’s native cryptocurrency, LINK, as its sole asset, following an amended S-1 filed last month that set the structure for the newly listed product.
Asked about why they chose the chain, a Grayscale representative told Decrypt Chainlink was a natural candidate for an ETF wrapper given how the company has been “a longstanding supporter” of the Chainlink oracle network and the trust’s operation as a private fund since 2021.
The debut marks Grayscale as “the first to offer ETF access to the world of blockchain oracles,” the spokesperson said. It would help investors “engage more directly with this critical layer of blockchain infrastructure,” they added.
Chainlink operates an oracle network “designed to connect smart contracts on any blockchain to real-world data, events and off-chain computation,” a description from GLNK’s prospectus reads. The network “serves as infrastructure for synchronizing on-chain and off-chain information,” it adds.
Grayscale’s debut for its Chainlink ETF follows the same trust conversion pathway used in its DOGE and XRP ETF launches late last month, which began trading on NYSE Arca after clearing similar procedural steps.
Cash-only models require authorized participants to handle more of the buying and selling themselves, as the SEC describes in its official documentation. Those extra costs can show up as wider prices when a new ETF first starts trading.
The SEC’s new listing standards, approved in September, played out as a “key factor” in “enabling” the asset manager to launch the product, Decrypt was told.
“We were able to rely on a pathway outlined by the SEC at the onset of the government shutdown,” to submit their filing for GLNK, the company said.
Grayscale shared with Decrypt an SEC statement on how it proceeded to qualify pending registration statements despite the shutdown, which lasted several weeks and affected liquidity for the broader crypto market.
That move “triggered a 20-day window at the end of which the product became automatically effective,” Decrypt was told.
When asked about their assessment of early trading conditions, the Grayscale spokesperson said: “So far, trading volume has been very positive,” in a message sent around Tuesday noon in New York, several hours into the product’s debut.
GLNK closed its launch day at $11.89, up 5.8%, with after-hours trading lifting it to about $12, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Volume reached 1.17 million shares, far above its average of roughly 42,000, indicating outsized first-day interest and active price discovery as the newly listed ETF transitioned from OTC markets to NYSE Arca.
Grayscale claimed it is seeing “enthusiasm from a range of investors,” while secondary market activity appears to align with that sentiment.
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