The launch of Grayscale’s first US spot Chainlink exchange-traded fund (ETF) attracted significant interest on its inaugural trading day, indicating that investors still seek regulated altcoin products amidst a broader downturn in the crypto market.
Grayscale’s Chainlink (LINK) ETF started with $41 million in net inflows and $13 million in trading volume on its first day, according to Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst, in a Wednesday X post. “$41m in first day flows. Another instant success from the crypto sector, with the only exception being Doge, but it’s still early days.”
This launch further indicates that institutional and professional investors are waiting for more regulated options to access altcoins that can be integrated into corporate or fund strategies.
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In contrast, the Solana (SOL) ETF launched with only $8.2 million in first-day volume, per Farside Investors data.
Meanwhile, the spot XRP (XRP) ETF remains the leader in altcoin ETF launches this year, boasting $243 million in first-day inflows, according to SosoValue.
Related: Bank of America backs 1%–4% crypto allocation, opens door to Bitcoin ETFs
Chainlink ETF debut was successful but not a “blockbuster,” says ETF analyst
Although the Chainlink ETF’s launch was not a “blockbuster success,” it has already accumulated $64 million in total assets, starting from an initial $18 million seed allocation, tweeted ETF analyst James Seyffart on Wednesday X post. “Chainlink demonstrates that longer tail assets can succeed within the ETF framework as well.”
In finance, long-tail assets refer to less popular and less liquid assets, which carry higher risks and potential rewards.
While the LINK token saw a 9.8% increase over the past week, the ETF launch did not reverse the token’s 39% decline over the previous year, as shown by Cointelegraph data.
LINK serves as the native utility token of the Chainlink network, rewarding validator node operators and paying for the protocol’s oracle data feed services.
Chainlink offers decentralized applications and asset tokenization protocols dependable real-world data feeds for the secure and accurate execution of smart contracts.
Its decentralized oracle and cross-chain interoperability services are essential for developers working on more intricate decentralized finance (DeFi) projects.
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