Bitwise has filed a new prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed Chainlink exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to filings visible in the SEC's EDGAR system. The disclosure arrived as LINK posted a gain of more than 20% alongside the news.

The filing marks another step in Bitwise's effort to expand its spot crypto ETF lineup beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, though a prospectus submission represents the beginning of a regulatory process, not an approval.

What the Filing Sets in Motion

A prospectus filing with the SEC initiates a formal review period, during which regulators can request amendments, issue comment letters, or allow the registration to go effective. For crypto products, such reviews have historically unfolded across multiple amendment cycles rather than resolving on a fixed clock. At this stage, the ticker, fee structure, custodian, and launch timing for the proposed Chainlink ETF have not been confirmed in the available public record. Bitwise's full filing history is accessible through the SEC's EDGAR company page for CIK 2034576.

Bitwise's Broader Crypto ETF Push

Bitwise has moved aggressively to register crypto investment products. Its Sol staking ETF reached $1 billion in assets under management within its first ten months, signaling institutional appetite for single-asset crypto exposure beyond Bitcoin. A Chainlink vehicle, if approved, would target a different segment of that demand: infrastructure and oracle-layer protocols rather than layer-1 settlement assets.

Chainlink occupies a distinct position in the on-chain AI and compute stack as the dominant oracle network connecting smart contracts to real-world data feeds, including AI model outputs, price data, and cross-chain messaging. A regulated ETF wrapper around LINK, the network's native token, would give institutions indirect exposure to the decentralized data layer that underpins a wide range of AI-adjacent DeFi protocols.

The filing joins a growing queue of altcoin ETF applications. It lands as issuers across the industry extend the spot Bitcoin and Ethereum playbook to a wider roster of assets, from staking products to infrastructure tokens. Earlier this year, Chainlink's price rallied on a separate Grayscale ETF filing, indicating that formal regulatory submissions have consistently moved LINK spot markets regardless of outcome certainty. The Bitwise XRP ETF surpassing $500 million in assets further demonstrates that the firm's non-Bitcoin products attract real capital once approved.

LINK's 20%+ Rally and What to Watch

LINK's reported surge of more than 20% coincided directly with news of the Bitwise prospectus, though correlation between a regulatory filing and a token price move does not establish that the filing caused the rally. Market structure around ETF filings often reflects speculative positioning, with traders front-running anticipated institutional demand rather than responding to confirmed product launches.

The filing does not confirm that the SEC will approve the product, set a review timeline, or refrain from requesting further amendments. Watchers can monitor Bitwise's EDGAR filing archive for any SEC comment letters, which would signal active regulatory engagement with the application. Amended prospectus filings appearing in the same feed would mark the next concrete checkpoints in the process. Whether LINK sustains its reported gain will depend on whether subsequent SEC actions validate or complicate the ETF timeline.

For the decentralized AI infrastructure thesis, a Chainlink ETF approval would be meaningful: it would create a regulated on-ramp to the oracle layer that AI agents and on-chain inference networks depend on for verified external data. That would position LINK not merely as a DeFi primitive but as potential infrastructure exposure within a broader AI-crypto convergence trade, a segment that institutional allocators are increasingly mapping.

Bitwise's track record of building assets under management in its first Solana ETF suggests the firm has the distribution to make a Chainlink product viable if regulators greenlight it.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.