Cardano Founder Calls Out Grayscale Exclusion Of ADA In New Staking Product

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has expressed surprise at the exclusion of Cardano (ADA) from Grayscale’s newly launched Dynamic Income Fund.

On Tuesday, popular crypto fund manager Grayscale announced its latest product, called the Grayscale Dynamic Income Fund (GDIF).

The fund will invest in proof-of-staked (PoS) cryptocurrencies and pay quarterly rewards in the form of yield from staked assets. Investors will also profit from the appreciation of the underlying staked asset, Grayscale’s offer page reveals.

However, Grayscale notably omitted Cardano (ADA) from its list of supported crypto assets for GDIF. Instead, the fund chose nine other PoS coins, including Coinbase Staked Ether (CBETH), Solana (SOL), Aptos (APT), Polkadot (DOT), Celestia (TIA), Near Protocol (NEAR), Osmosis (OSMO), and Sei (SEI).

The exclusion of Cardano has evidently caught the eye, as the Cardano network and its ADA currency are much older, larger and more prominent than most of the indexed assets.

Additionally, Cardano has a higher market value of $26 billion, which is significantly bigger than the market value of the listed PoS coins other than Solana (SOL).

Cardano Founder Reacts

Unsurprisingly, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson and the project’s community have responded to Grayscale’s latest product by questioning ADA’s exclusion.

No Ada? pic.twitter.com/4FT9U9HXv3

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) March 6, 2024

Although Grayscale did not disclose the reason for the omission, it is worth noting that the fund has the option to add more assets potentially based on investor demand and early success for the new product.

As a result, the omission of Cardano (ADA) may be temporary and does not wholly represent Grayscale’s treatment of Cardano and its ecosystem. 

For instance, Grayscale’s Crypto Sectors Fund invests in Cardano under the category of Smart Contract platforms. Additionally, the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (DLCF) includes a 1.34% allocation to Cardano.

Cardano Misses Out In the Meantime

The exclusion of Cardano from the newly launched GDIF may turn out to be a short-term miss for ADA in attracting investment capital from accredited investors.

Grayscale’s DIF unlocks the asset for high-profile clients or individuals, namely firms that manage over $1.1 million in capital or people with a net worth of over $2.2 million.