Bitwise Asset Management has applied to launch an exchange-traded fund that holds and tracks the native token of the cryptocurrency oracle platform Chainlink.
Documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday indicate that the fund will trade as the Bitwise Chainlink ETF, with Coinbase Custody designated as the fund's custodian.
The ETF plans to hold and provide physical creations and redemptions of Chainlink (LINK), allowing investors to buy and sell using LINK tokens.
Bitwise has not disclosed the ETF's trading code, the exchange it will be listed on, or the fees charged.
This is the first application in the U.S. to track an ETF for Chainlink. Bitwise submitted Form S-1 but must submit further Form 19b-4 to initiate the SEC approval process.
ETF application drives LINK up
According to CoinGecko, influenced by Bitwise's application, LINK's price rose 4.2% in the past 24 hours to $24.18.
Despite LINK's price increase of over 26% in the past 30 days, it has still lost more than half of its value compared to its peak of nearly $53 in May 2021.
Increased focus on small-cap ETFs
The Trump administration's relatively friendly stance towards cryptocurrencies has led many fund issuers to submit diverse cryptocurrency ETF applications to the SEC.
Bitwise's Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) ETFs have been successful, managing $2.26 billion and $460 million in assets respectively.
Last Saturday, asset management company VanEck submitted an application to the SEC to launch an ETF based on JitoSOL, a liquid staking token that offers staking rewards.
Meanwhile, Grayscale Investments has sought to convert its existing trust based on Avalanche (AVAX) into an ETF, while Canary Capital also submitted two ETF product applications this month.
