Grayscale submitted a conversion application for its Chainlink trust to the SEC, opening a new chapter for altcoin ETFs.

Grayscale Investments has submitted an application to the SEC to convert its existing Chainlink trust fund into an ETF. This move marks another significant milestone in bringing alternative crypto assets to mainstream investors. The application was submitted on September 5, 2025, aiming to list the fund under the code GLNK on the NYSE Arca, directly competing with Bitwise Asset Management, which submitted its own Chainlink ETF application in August 2025.

ETF Application Details and the Advantages of Chainlink

Grayscale's existing Chainlink trust fund currently manages approximately $29 million in assets. The proposed ETF would allow institutional and retail investors to gain exposure to LINK without having to deal directly with the technical challenges of purchasing and storing the Crypto Assets. Chainlink, as a decentralized oracle network, provides real-world data for blockchain smart contracts and is a key infrastructure for decentralized finance (DeFi) and cross-chain trading.

Factors driving investment interest include:

Strong Technical Foundation: In the past 30 days, Chainlink's development activity has far outpaced all DeFi projects, with over 311 significant developments, including the recent Staking v0.2 version.

Enterprise-level applications and government collaboration: Chainlink has established partnerships with major financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, Visa, Mastercard, and Swift. Recently, it also collaborated with the U.S. Department of Commerce, aiming to put official macroeconomic data on-chain, marking the first time a crypto project has directly integrated with the U.S. government data system.

Favorable Supply and Demand Dynamics: Currently, 87.5% of Chainlink's circulating supply is in profit, reducing selling pressure on holders. Its reserves on exchanges have fallen to a multi-year low of only 161.5 million coins. The reserve mechanism of Chainlink has removed 237,014 LINK coins from circulation, creating deflationary pressure.

Continuously Improving Regulatory Environment

Under the leadership of the Trump administration, the SEC took a more favorable stance towards digital assets. In July 2025, Chairman Paul Atkins initiated the "encryption project", aimed at modernizing the agency's attitude towards digital finance. Since early 2024, when Grayscale successfully converted its Bitcoin and Ethereum trusts into spot ETFs, the regulatory environment has significantly improved. These precedents have paved the way for other Crypto Assets investment products. The SEC's review time has been shortened to 75 days, accelerating the approval prospects. Currently, several asset management companies, including VanEck, 21Shares, and Franklin Templeton, have submitted similar applications for various Crypto Assets ETFs.

Impact on the Crypto Market

The application for the Chainlink ETF indicates that institutional interest is extending beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. Asset managers are seeking exposure to infrastructure tokens that have clear utility and real-world applications. Analysts predict that approval of the ETF could inject $2.25 billion in new capital into the LINK market. Historical precedents of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs suggest that prices tend to experience significant appreciation following institutional adoption.

The competition between Grayscale and Bitwise may accelerate the SEC's decision, as both companies are vying for first-mover advantage. The successful application of either company could open the door for other altcoin ETFs (such as Solana, XRP, etc.). The adoption of Chainlink through a regulated ETF represents the next phase of maturity in the crypto market, expanding from early adopters to mainstream financial institutions.

Conclusion

The Chainlink ETF application submitted by Grayscale Investments is another important step towards the mainstreaming of the crypto market. It not only highlights Chainlink's critical role in Web3 infrastructure, but more importantly, it signifies that institutional investors are beginning to look beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum to tokens with clear use cases and strong technological foundations. This competitive application, set against the backdrop of improving regulatory environments, suggests that more altcoins may receive similar investment products in the future, bringing new liquidity and growth to the entire crypto market.