Grayscale officially launched the Grayscale Chainlink Trust ETF, also known as GLNK, on the NYSE Arca on Tuesday, marking the first spot Chainlink ETF to enter the U.S. market. The product transitioned from a private trust to a fully listed ETF following an amended S-1 filing submitted last month.
The newly listed ETF holds Chainlink’s native token, LINK, as its sole asset, offering traditional investors direct exposure to the Chainlink oracle network. A Grayscale representative told Decrypt that Chainlink was a natural choice due to the firm’s longstanding support of the network and the trust’s operation as a private fund since 2021.
A Milestone for Blockchain Oracle Exposure
According to Grayscale, GLNK makes the company the first asset manager to offer ETF access to blockchain oracle infrastructure. The spokesperson explained that the ETF will help investors engage more directly with Chainlink’s critical technology layer, which connects smart contracts to real-world data and off-chain computation.
The GLNK prospectus describes Chainlink as infrastructure that synchronizes on-chain and off-chain information, enabling a wide range of smart contract use cases across multiple blockchains.
Follows Grayscale’s DOGE and XRP ETF Conversion Path
The Chainlink ETF launch followed a similar conversion route used in Grayscale’s DOGE and XRP ETFs, which also began trading on NYSE Arca after clearing SEC procedures. The cash-only creation and redemption model used in these products requires authorized participants to manage more of the transaction process themselves, often leading to wider price spreads during early trading.
According to Grayscale, the SEC’s updated listing standards approved in September were key to enabling the GLNK launch. The firm noted that it was able to rely on a filing pathway outlined by the SEC at the onset of the government shutdown. That triggered 20 days after which the registration became automatically effective.
Strong First Day Trading Activity
Early trading showed strong investor interest. By midday Tuesday in New York, Grayscale reported very positive volume, which ultimately reached 1.17 million shares on launch day. This significantly exceeded the ETF’s average 42000 share volume and indicated strong price discovery as GLNK transitioned from OTC markets to NYSE Arca.
GLNK closed its first trading day at 11.89 dollars, marking a 5.8 percent increase. After-hours trading pushed the price to around 12 dollars, based on Yahoo Finance data.
Grayscale said it has observed enthusiasm from a wide range of investors, with secondary market activity reflecting this sentiment.