Grayscale’s New Fund Focuses on Ethereum Competitors
Key Takeaways
Grayscale has launched a new diversified fund featuring the top smart contract networks in competition with Ethereum.
The Grayscale Smart Contract Platform Ex-Ethereum Fund features Solana, Polkadot, Avalanche, and Cardano, among others.
Grayscale is currently running a campaign to convince the SEC to approve its GBTC fund as a spot Bitcoin ETF.
Share this article
Solana, Avalanche, Polkadot, and Cardano all feature in the new fund.
Grayscale Highlights Smart Contract Platforms
Grayscale’s new fund shines a light on some of Ethereum’s most promising competitors.
The asset management giant announced the launch of the Grayscale Smart Contract Platform Ex-Ethereum Fund (also known as “GSCPxE”) Tuesday, touting the new offering as a fund giving exposure to “a selection of industry-leading smart contract platforms.”
The new fund features Cardano (24.63%), Solana (24.27%), Avalanche (16.96%), Polkadot (16.16%), Polygon (9.65%), Algorand (4.27%), and Stellar (4.06%). Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein explained in a press release that the firm launched the fund to give investors a way to diversify across multiple smart contract blockchain in what’s become an increasingly competitive market. He said:
“Smart contract technology is critical to the growth of the digital economy, but it’s still too early to know which platform will win—from attracting and retaining the most vibrant developer communities, to ensuring the platform is high-speed, flexible, and scalable.”
Ethereum had a big 2021 as the wider crypto market boomed, helped by its dominance over the fast-growing NFT ecosystem and the launch of its crucial EIP-1559 fee burning update. The smart contract titan’s 2022 looks set to be even bigger due to a long-awaited plan to merge the blockchain from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake.
However, rising gas fees on Ethereum and significant developments on other networks paved the way for other Layer 1 smart contract blockchains to grab some of Ethereum’s market share. Three of the biggest winners of 2021 were Solana, Terra, and Avalanche (popularly known as “SOLUNAVAX”), which all outperformed Ethereum in the second half of the year.
GSCPxE will track the CoinDesk Smart Contract Platform Select Ex ETH Index. Jodie Gunzberg, CFA, Managing Director, CoinDesk Indices, said that investors have an appetite for alternative smart contract networks following Ethereum’s breakout in 2021. ““Many investors allocated to ETH given its explosive growth over the past year, so now there is demand to get exposure across the rest of the Smart Contract Platform sector,” he explained.
The fund is Grayscale’s 18th investment product and third diversified fund offering. Its flagship product is GBTC, a fund designed to give institutional investors exposure to the top crypto asset. Last year, Grayscale filed an application with the SEC to convert GBTC to an exchange-traded fund. It’s since launched a campaign to encourage would-be investors to convince Grayscale to approve the application. The SEC has rejected all previous applications for a spot Bitcoin fund, but the decision on Grayscale’s request is still pending.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH, MATIC, and several other cryptocurrencies.
Share this article
The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
See full terms and conditions.
NFT Express: Your on-ramp to the world of NFTs
At Tatum, we’ve already made it super easy to create your own NFTs on multiple blockchains without having to learn Solidity or create your own smart contracts. Anyone can deploy…
As SEC Stalls on a Bitcoin ETF, Grayscale Is Campaigning
Grayscale Investments has rolled out a campaign to garner support to persuade the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve its spot Bitcoin ETF application. Grayscale Aims for Support for Spot…
SEC Has Received 200 Letters on Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has received an influx of letters on the possible approval of Grayscale’s upcoming Bitcoin spot ETF, a decision that is still pending. Investors Enter…
Grayscale Launches Crypto-Focused ETF
Grayscale Investments has launched its first exchange traded fund. The Grayscale Future of Finance ETF will track the Bloomberg Grayscale Future of Finance Index. Grayscale ETF Begins Trading Grayscale Investments,…
