Key takeaways:
- Grayscale Investments has applied for a Worldcoin-based ETF that will allow investors to have exposure to the WLD token without having to purchase it directly.
- The fund is to be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker GWLD, and its infrastructure will be responsible for, among others, BitGo and BNY Mellon.
- The project is part of the growing trend regarding cryptocurrency ETFs – if approved, it will expand Grayscale’s offer (including BTC and ETH) and may increase institutional interest in less popular tokens.
Grayscale wants a new ETF
According to the preliminary prospectus, the Grayscale Worldcoin ETF is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol GWLD. BitGo Bank & Trust will be the custodian, and BNY Mellon will act as administrator and transfer agent. CSC Delaware Trust Company will serve as trustee.
The filing has not yet disclosed details regarding management fees, seed investments, authorized participants or liquidity providers.
WLD is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain, which is the native token of the project using biometric verification to distinguish humans from bots, founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The proposed Worldcoin ETF, if ultimately created, joins 17 cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded products offered by Grayscale, including those tracking bitcoin (BTC), XRP (XRP), solan (SOL), ether (ETH), dogecoin (DOGE) and chainlink (LINK).
ETF, what is it?
ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is an investment fund listed on the stock exchange that reflects the behavior of a specific index, raw material, economic sector or basket of assets. Most ETFs operate passively, meaning they do not try to “beat the market”, but simply mirror it.
A cryptocurrency ETF is a special type of ETF that tracks the price of one or more cryptocurrencies, most often Bitcoin or Ether. Thanks to this, investors can invest in the cryptocurrency market without having to directly purchase and store digital assets (e.g. without a cryptocurrency wallet or private keys). There are different types of such ETFs – e.g. spot ETF (based directly on actual bitcoin) and futures ETF (based on futures contracts). Cryptocurrency ETFs attract institutional investors because they are regulated and available on traditional exchanges, which increases trust and facilitates the entry of large capital into the cryptocurrency market.
In recent days, we have seen renewed purchases on the BTC ETF market. On July 20 alone, there was a net inflow of funds into the BTC, ETH, SOL and XRP spot ETFs:
- BTC: USD 226.92 million,
- ETH: USD 38.09 million,
- SOL: USD 2.64 million,
- XRP: $2.49 million.
