Grayscale Launches Future of Finance ETF, Tracking Crypto & Fintech Firms

The world’s largest crypto asset manager has launched a new exchange-traded fund that tracks the leading companies in the world of payments and finance.

Grayscale Investments LLC launched its Future of Finance ETF, which began trading on Feb. 2 under the ticker GFOF. David LaValle, Grayscale’s global head of ETFs, said that the fund is designed to track firms that are “actively building and advancing the digital economy.”

The fund tracks the Bloomberg Grayscale Future of Finance index, which was launched in January following 22 fintech firms, including a number of crypto-focused companies.

Speaking to Bloomberg about the launch, LaValle who was hired in August said “I joined with the express goal of creating a world-class ETF issuer, and GFOF is the first iteration of that.”

The company filed for the GFOF fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November, as reported by BeInCrypto. The fund will be passively managed with a fee of 0.7%.

Crypto firms in the fund

In October, Grayscale filed an application with the SEC to convert its $24 billion Bitcoin Trust into an exchange-traded fund. However, like most SEC filings for crypto products, it has remained in the lengthening queue.

There are a number of crypto-related companies in the fund, but it will not track those that have Bitcoin on their balance sheets, according to Bloomberg.

Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, Eric Balchunas, tweeted the list of firms which include Coinbase Global, Argo Blockchain, Hut 8 Mining Corp, Bitfarms, Hive Blockchain Technologies, Galaxy Digital, Marathon Digital, Riot Blockchain, Canaan, and BIT Mining.

Others on the list include payments giants such as PayPal, Block (formerly Square), trading firm Robinhood, and investment giant Bakkt. In a statement, Grayscale said:

“GFOF was built upon the thesis that the digital economy will boost global commerce, drive market efficiencies, and provide access to new pools of capital while reducing the need for costly and cumbersome intermediaries.”

Grayscale AUM latest

The company currently has $33.8 billion in assets under management, according to its latest update on Feb. 3. The Bitcoin Trust comprises 71.6% of that total, with $24 billion in AUM. The firm’s Ethereum trust has a 25% share with $8.5 billion, and the rest is dispersed in a number of altcoin funds.

The GBTC fund is currently trading at a massive discount, with the net asset value (NAV) at 25% lower than the price of the underlying asset according to Ycharts. Investors appear to be still betting on the approval of its ETF, but the SEC is procrastinating as usual.

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