Grayscale is positioning a broader wave of crypto exchange-traded funds as the U.S. market moves beyond products tied to Bitcoin and Ether, a senior executive at the asset manager said. ETFs trade on stock exchanges and give investors exposure to an asset through a standard brokerage account rather than direct token ownership, the structure behind the industry's push into mainstream U.S. markets.

Krista Lynch, a managing director at Grayscale, said new U.S. listing rules give firms wider latitude in choosing which digital assets to build funds around. Speaking at Token2049 in Singapore, Lynch said the Securities and Exchange Commission's generic listing standards cover roughly 15 tokens, allowing issuers to weigh investor demand and their own views before pursuing new ETFs. That marks a shift from the asset-by-asset approvals that shaped the first wave of U.S. spot crypto funds, which debuted with Bitcoin in January 2024 and expanded to Ether later that year.

Grayscale Maps Out a Wider Asset Menu

Grayscale identified 27 digital assets as candidates for possible products in January. The list spanned artificial intelligence, decentralized finance, consumer services and blockchain infrastructure, though the firm has not committed to launching a fund for every asset. Candidate menus like this one outline where issuers see room to build beyond the two largest cryptocurrencies.

Lynch added that investor education remains part of Grayscale's work. Even outside crypto circles, she said, she still hears basic questions about Bitcoin and Ether. Her desk buys or sells the underlying tokens when major market firms create or redeem shares across Grayscale's funds — the creation-and-redemption process that keeps a fund's market price in line with the value of its holdings.

Zcash ETF Crosses $1 Billion

A new spot Zcash ETF filing from Winklevoss Asset Services adds competition in the niche. The planned fund would hold ZEC, the native token of the privacy-focused Zcash blockchain, and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker WINK, pending approval.

Grayscale's Zcash ETF, GZCSH, collected more than $1 billion its first 30 trading days, according to Lynch. She ranked the debut among the top 1% of ETF launches over the past decade based on first-month assets, a standard yardstick for how a new fund's debut landed with investors.

Regulators Widen ETF Options

The SEC's standards offer a listing path for eligible crypto products, though other filing requirements still apply. Lynch said issuers now have more freedom to choose their offerings.

The SEC also approved exchange rules for proposed triple-leveraged Bitcoin and Ether ETFs on October 2. Those funds would use futures rather than hold the tokens directly, and their registration statements must become effective before trading can begin. Triple-leveraged funds are designed to deliver three times an underlying asset's daily performance, a structure that can diverge from longer-term token returns.

Grayscale Looks Toward Tokenization

Grayscale recently filed to tokenize two funds under the Investment Company Act of 1940, including Bitcoin and Ether covered-call funds. Tokenization would place records of ownership of fund interests on a blockchain.

Lynch cited an SEC innovation exemption as another possible path after the Clarity Act, a proposed digital-asset market-structure bill, failed in Congress.

Demand for established products remains uneven, meanwhile. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $487.1 million in net outflows on Wednesday, meaning redemptions outpaced new investment that day.

Last month, Grayscale joined other crypto firms in asking the SEC to accelerate ETF reviews. The group also requested confidential draft filings for proposed products, a channel that lets issuers refine applications before making them public.