First came the digital-asset treasuries—public companies that raised equity, bought crypto and watched their stock prices soar. It was a kind of financial alchemy: tap the stock market to buy tokens, then let the market reward you for holding them.
Now comes the effort to scale that trade. GSR, a crypto market-maker, filed to launch a fund that bundles such companies into a single investment—just as the frenzy shows signs of cooling.
The proposed GSR Digital Asset Treasury Companies ETF would be the first to formalize the strategy.
At the core of the trade is an inversion of the usual playbook. Instead of crypto firms tapping equity markets to raise capital, public companies have been using equity markets to buy tokens.
Many did so by issuing stock—often at inflated valuations—and plowing the proceeds into Bitcoin, Ether or Solana. Effectively, they turned their own shares into a financing vehicle for token accumulation. GSR’s ETF would package that behavior, investing in firms that hold digital assets in their corporate treasuries.
The fund would also look for what are called private investments in public equity, or PIPEs, through which investors buy shares directly from companies. That portion of the fund would be limited to 15% due to certain ETF illiquidity restrictions, the filing says.
It’s a familiar Wall Street move, taking a volatile, hard-to-access trade and wrapping it in something easier to buy. For GSR, it’s a way to add institutional heft to a trade born out of narrative, momentum and retail demand.
Yet the timing is tricky. Activity in these deals peaked in July, according to data from financial advisory Architect Partners. And many of the companies that made these announcements have seen their shares fall in recent weeks as overall market reception cools and investors become more discerning.
Other ETFs offer exposure to similar themes. The Grayscale Bitcoin Adopters ETF (ticker BCOR) tracks firms that hold Bitcoin in their treasuries, while the REX Bitcoin Corporate Treasury Convertible Bond ETF (BMAX) focuses on convertible bonds issued by those same types of companies.
It’s GSR’s first foray into ETFs and the endeavor is part of its newly formed U.S. asset-management division. As part of its expansion plans, it recently opened a new office in New York City. In addition to the DATs fund, GSR is eyeing the launch of four other U.S. ETFs, including an “Ethereum Staking Opportunity” fund and a “Crypto Core3” product, which would look to provide “balanced exposure” to Bitcoin, Ether and Solana, the filing says.
Founded in 2013, GSR is one of the biggest market-makers in crypto, helping clients trade more than 250 tokens, according to its website, with over $1 trillion traded. It already has experience with DATs, including Upexi Inc.’s accumulation of Solana—GSR offers portfolio management, for instance, for such deals.
Still, it’s entering a highly competitive American ETF landscape, where more than 4,400 funds already trade, over 90 of them crypto-minded. And analysts expect competition only to increase going forward after regulators last week approved a rule change allowing exchanges to fast-track listings for commodity-based ETFs, including those tied to various cryptos.