Grayscale Investments has become the second asset manager to file for a Chainlink exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The firm submitted its registration for the Grayscale Chainlink Trust on Sept. 5, 2025, moving closer to bringing LINK, the native token of the Chainlink network, into the ETF market.
Details of the Grayscale Chainlink ETF Filing
The filing shows that the Trust, which Grayscale set up in December 2020, plans to rebrand as the Grayscale Chainlink Trust ETF once regulators give the green light. Notably, Grayscale plans to list the product on NYSE Arca under the ticker GLNK.
The asset manager designed the Trust to let investors gain exposure to LINK without holding the token directly. For context, each share will represent a fraction of the Trust’s LINK holdings.
The filing names Coinbase Custody Trust Company as custodian, The Bank of New York Mellon as administrator and transfer agent, and Coinbase as prime broker.
Its structure allows authorized participants to create or redeem shares in blocks of 10,000, called baskets, by delivering Chainlink. This creation-and-redemption process helps keep the ETF’s market price in line with its net asset value through arbitrage.
Moreover, the filing also sets the sponsor’s annual fee at 2.5%, payable in LINK. Grayscale will cover most operating costs up to $600,000 a year, but the Trust itself must cover extraordinary expenses like unexpected legal or tax bills. Importantly, this could force the Trust to sell LINK at unfavorable times.
Meanwhile, another detail worth noting is that the Trust cannot stake LINK yet because it has not met the required conditions. This leaves price performance as the only source of potential gains for now.
Grayscale, Other Firms Pushing for Altcoin ETFs
Notably, it bears mentioning that Grayscale is not first to the table. Specifically, Bitwise Asset Management submitted its own application for a Chainlink ETF on Aug. 26. Bitwise also plans to track LINK’s price and will use Coinbase Custody as custodian.
The new filing comes as Grayscale pushes deeper into altcoin ETFs. Earlier this year, the company filed for Cardano and Polkadot ETFs.
It registered both trusts in Delaware earlier in August, and the Cardano product, set to trade as GADA on NYSE Arca, awaits an SEC decision next month, in October. Grayscale’s Polkadot trust is also under review.
Grayscale further filed for a Dogecoin ETF, entering a crowded race with Bitwise and Rex-Osprey. The firm also registered a Hedera trust in Delaware. In addition, Grayscale submitted paperwork to convert its Solana Trust into an ETF. Its XRP Trust is also seeking conversion, joining multiple other pending XRP ETF applications.
Besides Grayscale, other asset managers such as WisdomTree, 21Shares, Bitwise, and Canary Capital have filed for multiple altcoin ETFs, with most of these products having deadlines in October.
Prediction markets show growing confidence that regulators will approve these products. At press time, Polymarket odds for Cardano ETF approval in 2025 stand at 87%, while XRP approval chances have climbed to 93%.
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