Five Coins, One ETF: Grayscale Bets On A Broader Crypto Future

Grayscale Investments launched a new product on Friday to help make diversification in crypto more accessible to investors.

Rather than bet on Bitcoin or Ethereum, the Grayscale CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF (NYSE:GDLC) diversifies exposure into the five most liquid cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano.

Also Read: Strategy, Metaplanet Report New Bitcoin Purchases As BTC Slides To $113,000

Beyond Bitcoin: A Basket Approach

The GDLC fund, tied to the CoinDesk 5 Index, rebalances quarterly automatically so that its basket holds the leaders in the digital-asset space. The ETF has an expense ratio of 0.59%.

GDLC is not a new idea. Grayscale introduced it previously in 2018 as the Digital Large Cap Fund, in the form of a private trust. The ETF conversion marks just how far the crypto space has come, and just how much more investors are starting to love the transparency and tax efficiency of the ETF wrapper.

Grayscale CEO Peter Mintzberg declared the launch a “historic milestone” for crypto-linked exchange-traded products, noting that investors are flocking towards regulated, exchange-traded vehicles as their vehicle of choice to get into the asset class.

Regulatory Winds Turning

The timing is also on Grayscale’s side. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved generic listing standards for crypto ETPs, reducing the approval cycle for new funds.

Where launches previously suffered a regulatory grind of as much as 240 days, approvals might now take less than a third of that. Market observers anticipate this shift to spur a deluge of new crypto ETFs. Crypto analyst and trader Ali Martinez said Bitcoin may be headed for a possible dip to $112,000 before a rally to $130,000.

For Grayscale, already well-known in the universe of digital-asset investing, taking GDLC public is an extension of the company’s long-game wager: that crypto is merged with mainstream investing, and perfect to be packaged, traded, and rebalanced like any other corner of Wall Street.

Read Next:

• AI's Energy Appetite Sends Nuclear ETFs To New Highs

Image: Shutterstock