Filing advances trust toward ETF structure
Grayscale filed its quarterly report for the Chainlink Trust with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, a routine but required step that keeps the fund on track for a potential exchange-traded fund conversion. The Form 10-Q discloses holdings of 2.9 million LINK tokens valued at approximately $24 million at current prices, along with an expense ratio of 2.5% that would carry over to any ETF wrapper.
The filing does not itself trigger a conversion. It simply maintains the trust's registration effectiveness under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Grayscale has not yet filed a 19b-4 proposal with the SEC to list shares on a national exchange, though market participants expect that step before the October deadline.
LINK price action muted around disclosure
LINK changed hands at $8.19 during Asian hours Friday, off 0.30% in 24 hours but up 0.60% over the past seven sessions. Volume reached $148.6 million across spot and perpetual markets, below the 30-day average of $210 million. The token's market capitalization stands at $6.12 billion, ranking 19th globally.
| Metric | Value | 24h Change | 7d Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LINK Price | $8.19 | -0.30% | +0.60% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24h Volume | $148.6M | -28% vs avg | — |
| Market Cap | $6.12B | — | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chainlink Trust Holdings | 2.9M LINK | — | — |
| Trust AUM (est.) | $24M | — | — |
Desks watch for 19b-4 signal
Trading desks at two major market makers said they are monitoring for a 19b-4 filing that would formally request SEC approval to list the trust as an ETF. Such a filing would start a 240-day review clock, with the first deadline likely falling in mid-October based on the trust's initial registration date.
Grayscale's existing bitcoin and ether ETFs — GBTC and ETHE — have seen combined net outflows of roughly $180 million over the past five trading sessions, according to Bloomberg-compiled flow data. The Chainlink Trust's 2.5% fee sits well above the 0.19%-0.25% range of its ETF peers, a potential headwind for asset gathering if conversion occurs.
Custody and redemption mechanics unchanged
The quarterly report confirms Coinbase Custody remains the trust's sole custodian, with no changes to the redemption mechanism that currently allows only authorized participants to create or redeem shares in 10,000-share blocks. An ETF conversion would introduce in-kind creation and redemption at the share level, potentially narrowing the trust's persistent discount to net asset value — recently observed at 12-15% — toward parity.
The next quarterly filing is due in late October. Absent a 19b-4 submission before then, the trust will continue operating under its current closed-end structure with weekly NAV publications and no on-exchange liquidity for retail holders.