Investment firm
Bitwise
has formally requested permission to introduce a spot
Chainlink
exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States. The application was submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 26, as detailed in a public
filing.
The proposed investment vehicle, tentatively named the Bitwise Chainlink ETF, aims to offer shares that represent a portion of the Chainlink tokens held within the trust. The plan is for these shares to be traded on a recognized national stock exchange. The specific ticker symbol for the fund has not yet been disclosed in the filing.
Should regulators approve this proposal, the ETF would be groundbreaking as the first U.S. investment product designed to provide investors with direct exposure to this specific digital asset.
Chainlink ETF
Chainlink has established itself as a leading decentralized oracle network, playing a vital role in supplying real-world data to smart contracts operating on Ethereum and various other blockchain platforms.
The LINK token is the financial backbone of this ecosystem. Currently ranked as the 11th largest digital asset in terms of market capitalization, LINK rewards the node operators responsible for retrieving external data and executing computations.
Chainlink’s influence is also expanding into conventional financial sectors. The network has
established partnerships
with established financial entities like
Swift,
Visa,
Mastercard,
and
JPMorgan.
This growth and utility have led to significant interest in the digital asset from institutional investors.
Bitwise explains that the ETF aims to replicate the performance of Chainlink’s LINK token, accounting for any applicable fees and expenses. The fund will achieve this by holding the underlying LINK in custody.
As stated in the filing:
“The Trust operates on a passively managed basis, foregoing active investment management strategies. The Sponsor will not actively engage in managing the Chainlink held by the Trust.”
“This means the Sponsor will not sell Chainlink when prices are elevated, nor will it acquire Chainlink when prices are low in anticipation of future price appreciation.”
“Furthermore, the Sponsor will not utilize any hedging strategies that are commonly employed by professional Chainlink investors to mitigate potential losses stemming from price declines.”
The company also specified that the ETF’s pricing will be based on the CME CF Chainlink–Dollar Reference Rate (New York Variant), a benchmark price published daily by CF Benchmarks Ltd. Coinbase Custody Trust Company is designated as the custodian responsible for securely holding the underlying Chainlink tokens.
Through this offering, Bitwise intends to connect decentralized infrastructure with traditional, regulated investment markets by packaging Chainlink into the familiar ETF structure.
Approval of this filing would broaden the scope of crypto ETFs beyond just
Bitcoin
and
Ethereum
ETFs. It would also serve as a testament to the rising investor appetite for exposure to assets that are fundamental to the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape.