Grayscale Investments has partnered with investment platform Republic to make three of its cryptocurrency investment funds available to eligible accredited investors, each requiring a minimum investment of $2,500. The products — the Grayscale DeFi Fund, the Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund, and the Grayscale Data Network Trust — provide exposure to three of the digital asset economy's most closely watched segments: decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized artificial intelligence, and onchain data infrastructure.

The collaboration, announced on October 15, 2026, is aimed at broadening adoption of digital asset investment solutions across some of crypto's most prominent sectors and extending investor access to products at an earlier stage of their development.

Excited to partner with @Grayscale to expand investor access on three innovative funds

— Republic (@joinrepublic) October 15, 2026

Grayscale Brings Three Crypto Strategies to Republic

Through Republic's investment platform, the Grayscale DeFi Fund, Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund, and Grayscale Data Network Trust are now open to eligible accredited investors. Rather than concentrating exposure in a single asset, the offering introduces investors to the digital asset market through diversified, theme-specific baskets.

In a post on X, Grayscale outlined the three products now available on the Republic platform:

We're excited to announce a partnership with @joinrepublic to expand access to Grayscale investment products for eligible investors.

Grayscale products to be available on the Republic platform are:

• Grayscale DeFi Fund: exposure to a basket of leading DeFi protocols $UNI, $AAVE, $ONDO, $ENA, $CRV, $LDO

• Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund: exposure to protocols operating at the intersection of blockchain and AI $NEAR, $TAO, $RENDER, $FIL
n> • Grayscale Data Network Trust: exposure to $DATA, the native token of the DATA Network.

Visit the landing page on Republic to learn more:

— Grayscale (@Grayscale) October 15, 2026

DeFi Fund Tracks a Market-Cap-Weighted Index

The Grayscale DeFi Fund is built on a market-cap-weighted index of decentralized finance protocols engaged in lending, trading, and asset management. The vehicle consolidates several of the largest DeFi ecosystems into a single product, with holdings spanning UNI (Uniswap), AAVE (Aave), ONDO (Ondo Finance), ENA (Ethena), CRV (Curve), and LDO (Lido) — names associated with decentralized exchange trading, lending markets, liquid staking, and tokenized real-world-asset and synthetic-dollar protocols.

Decentralized AI Fund Targets the Blockchain-AI Intersection

The Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund focuses on protocols operating at the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence. It holds positions in projects across decentralized computing, storage, and AI infrastructure, including NEAR (the NEAR Protocol), TAO (Bittensor, a decentralized machine-learning network), RENDER (Render Network, distributed GPU computing), and FIL (Filecoin, a decentralized storage network).

DATA Trust Targets AI Training Infrastructure

The third product, the Grayscale Data Network Trust, takes a more concentrated approach, focusing on DATA, the native token of the DATA Network. According to Grayscale, the network is an AI training infrastructure that sources data, verifies it, and issues the licenses for training AI models. Those functions speak to a long-running friction point in the AI industry: establishing who holds rights to training data and how contributors are compensated for its use.

The network builds an onchain log of data provenance, establishes licensing terms, and provides compensation for rights holders and contributors. This gives the trust a specific, single-network focus, in contrast to the broader baskets of assets held by the DeFi and AI funds.

$2,500 Minimum Opens Earlier Access

Eligible users must invest a minimum of $2,500 through Republic, according to the platform's co-CEO. The partnership is designed to give more investors than ever before the opportunity to access these products during an earlier phase of their development — a stage of availability that has typically been reserved for institutions. Accreditation itself acts as the regulatory gate: the status is generally tied to income, net-worth, or professional criteria, so the offering widens the pool beyond institutions while still excluding the general public.

Grayscale CEO Peter Mintzberg indicated that the company sees DeFi, decentralized AI, and onchain data infrastructure as among the most compelling areas of activity in the digital asset economy.

Some of the most compelling opportunities in digital assets are in DeFi, decentralized AI, and onchain data infrastructure. We've spent more than a decade pioneering products and strategies that offer investors exposure to the digital assets ecosystem. Our partnership with @joinrepublic gives more eligible investors access to the most innovative areas of the fast-growing digital economy.

— Peter Mintzberg (@PeterMintzberg) October 15, 2026

Grayscale Expands Beyond Single-Asset Crypto Exposure

The Republic partnership represents Grayscale's continued efforts to diversify its product offerings beyond its flagship single-asset vehicles. The new distribution channel is not limited to exposure to Bitcoin or Ethereum; instead, it offers eligible investors thematic baskets of decentralized finance and artificial intelligence (AI) related crypto infrastructure assets. Grayscale has spent more than a decade developing products and strategies that provide investors with exposure to the digital asset ecosystem.

Grayscale noted that the three products continue to be private placement securities and are offered only to qualified, accredited investors. The firm also cautioned that the investments are highly speculative, carry the risk of total loss, and are very different from freely traded spot crypto products.

Source: CryptoNinjas