DeFi mainstays headline Grayscale’s list of new products under consideration

Want to buy decentralized finance exposure from your stockbroker? Grayscale may be on the cusp of making it a reality. 

In a press release today, the issuer of popular exchange-traded products such as Bitcoin (BTC)-backed Grayscale Bitcoin Trust announced a list of new assets under consideration — and over a third, or 8 of 23, come from Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem.

Aave, Compound's COMP, MakerDAO's MKR, Reserve Rights (RSR), SushiSwap's SUSHI, Synthetix Network Token (SNX), Uniswap's UNI and Yearn.finance's YFI joined increasingly popular layer-one chain assets such as Polkadot's DOT, Cosmos' ATOM and Cardano's ADA on the list — a sign that the “great repricing” may be picking up steam.

“We're eager to expand our product offerings to better serve our investors,” said Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein in the release. “The digital currency universe is constantly evolving and we seek to identify bold, interesting, and innovative opportunities that satisfy our investors’ demand for differentiated exposure to this burgeoning asset class.”

The announcement also noted that considerations such as “sufficiently secure custody arrangements, and regulatory considerations” will be factors in deciding which assets will go to market as exchange-tradable products — factors that could potentially slow DeFi’s debut on the stock market compared with some of the layer-one blockchains and other projects listed.

Grayscale has previously been criticized for its asset choices, including Bitcoin Cash (BCH), a fork of Bitcoin, and Ripple’s XRP. Last month, Grayscale filed for trusts for many of the assets listed, but made the selections official today. 

The selections the investment manager made come with particular heft, given the importance of products like Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and Grayscale Ethereum Trust to institutional and retail investors. Grayscale’s products are often the preferred choice for large buyers seeking crypto exposure via traditional investment rails, and the “investment premium” for their products — the price per share versus the price of the underlying assets — is closely watched.