Grayscale Investments has officially filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a groundbreaking Near Protocol (NEAR) exchange-traded fund (ETF).
According to the filed S-1Grayscale plans to convert the Near Trust into an ETF and rename the trust the Grayscale Near Trust ETF.
This filing now represents a strategic expansion beyond BTC and ETH products, challenging the established regulatory perimeter for altcoin-based investment vehicles. As a result, the application could pave the way for a new era of institutional access to layer-1 blockchain assets, provided it successfully passes the SEC’s rigorous review process.
BREAKING: Grayscale has filed to convert its Grayscale Near Trust into a spot NEAR ETF ( $GSNR)
Grayscale Trust has ~$900K in cash $NEARBY and transactions at a premium above NAV.
If approved, it would track the movements of the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF, fueling increasing institutional interest in… pic.twitter.com/NsB4YbMW88
— Crypto Patel (@CryptoPatel) January 21, 2026
If approved, it plans to list the shares under the ticker GSNR, which currently trade on the OTCQB market, on the NYSE Arca. However, the company will disclose fees and other details in a later filing with the SEC.
CSC Delaware Trust Company is the trustee, The Bank of New York Mellon is the transfer agent and administrator, and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company is the co-transfer agent of the trust.
The prime broker and custodian will be Coinbase and the custodian arm of the US stock exchange.
In the filing, Grayscale also hinted at the likelihood of eviction. If the staking condition is met, “the Sponsor expects that the Trust will enter into written agreements with the Custodian to stake the Trust’s NEAR with one or more vetted third-party staking providers.”
Following the filing, James Seyffart, a popular Bloomberg ETF analyst, believes that Crypto ETP filings with the SEC will continue.
Crypto ETP filings continue to land on the SEC’s desk. https://t.co/wJhFQcGMtM
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 20, 2026
NEAR price recovers and jumps more than 3%
Following the announcement, the price of the Near Protocol token rose 3% in the past few hours, despite a 1.5% decline the day before, to trade at $1.54 as of 1:58 a.m. EST, with an intraday high of around $1.56 and a low of $1.50, according to Congecko facts.
The slight increase comes even as jitters run through the crypto market, with the space down nearly 2% over the past 24 hours to a market cap of $3.10 trillion.
NEAR trading volume also increased by more than 14% to $211 million, a signal of increased trading activity.
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