An overview of 21 Grayscale crypto trust funds: Can they break the “bull tail” cycle?

Original author: Frank, PANews

In the past six months, Grayscale has launched another 6 crypto trust funds. After August 1, SUI ushered in a wave of increases after Grayscale launched the trust fund, and for a time, the view that Sui is the Solana killer was very popular.

At present, Grayscale has 21 crypto trusts (except BTC and ETH). How much impact will Grayscales trust fund have on these crypto assets? PANews has summarized that Grayscales trust fund has a serious impact on token prices. It has a high boosting effect on leading projects in popular tracks in the market, but has little impact on long-established currencies. At the same time, Grayscales previous concentrated launch of crypto trusts seemed to coincide with the end of the bull market.

GDLC: Bear Market After Launch

Launched: February 1, 2018 Assets under management: $480 million

GDLC (Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund) is a basket of digital asset products launched by Grayscale. Its current holdings include BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, AVAX and other tokens. The plan was launched in February 2018, when the market was experiencing a decline from its historical high of 19891 to more than 7,000 US dollars. After Grayscale launched the product, the market entered a long period of consolidation and downward trend. The launch of this product does not seem to have brought much boost to the market.

ETC: Price surges after launch during recovery phase

Launched: April 24, 2017 Assets under management: $210 million

After Grayscale launched its ETC product, the price of ETC has been rising. However, this rise seems to be earlier than Grayscales trust product. In April 2017, the entire crypto market was entering a recovery phase. ETCs trust product was one of the first trust products launched by Grayscale.

BCH: Half the price after launch

Launched: March 1, 2018 Assets under management: $120 million

Grayscale Trust Fund does not seem to have much impact on the short-term market of BCH. When Grayscale launched BCH Trust on March 1, 2018, the BCH market was at a high level. After the product was launched, the price fell all the way, falling by about 53% in one month.

LTC: A 70% drop after a bullish turn to a bearish trend

Launched: March 1, 2018 Assets under management: $118 million

Grayscale also chose to launch the LTC trust product right after a sharp rise, but Grayscales trust did not have much impact on the LTC market. On March 1, 2018, LTC briefly rebounded by about 7%, and then began to fall a few days later. It fell from $200 to $72.

SOL: Launched after the all-time high

Launched: November 18, 2021 Assets under management: $69.87 million

When Grayscale was launched, SOL had just passed the previous high of 259 US dollars and began to decline. After Grayscale launched the trust product, the market rebounded briefly, but then the market fell all the way and entered a long bear market.

Zcash: All-time highs after launch

Launched: October 24, 2017 Assets under management: $16.26 million

Since the news of its establishment was released, the highest increase in four days has reached 29.64%. After Grayscale launched the Zcash Trust, the market just entered the second half of the bull market, and the price soared all the way. Bitcoin rose to $19,891, and Zcash also rose all the way, creating a historical high price of $799.

XLM: From bull to bear, falling all the way

Launched: December 6, 2018 Assets under management: $9.4 million

After the launch, the market performed poorly and the price of XLM was on a downward trend. The market reached its lowest point on December 16, and the price of Bitcoin fell to $3,215, and then began to rebound to nearly $14,000. However, the price trend of XLM continued to fall, and was not greatly stimulated by the launch of Grayscales trust.

LINK: 124% increase

Launched: February 26, 2021 Assets under management: $9.39 million

As a trust product launched at the same time as MANA, LINK’s market performance is not as good as MANA. However, it also saw a 124% increase in the two and a half months after the launch of the trust, outperforming other mainstream tokens in the same period.

MANA: Up 543% in January

Launched: February 26, 2021 Assets under management: $7.64 million

MANA has seen a significant increase after Grayscale launched its trust product. On February 26, 2021, Grayscale launched the MANA trust, and in the following month, MANA rose by 543%. It became the most eye-catching investment target in the market at the time. However, the beginning of 2021 was the hottest stage of the metaverse concept, and MANA was also the only metaverse product launched by Grayscale as a trust. Currently, Grayscales trust management assets still account for 1.45% of MANAs total market value.

LPT: Surge nearly 10 times after launch

Launched: March 10, 2021 Assets under management: $6.9 million

Grayscale Trust has a significant effect on the market promotion of LPT. As a token that has not been launched for a long time, LPT has not been listed on exchanges such as Binance and OKX in March 2021. After Grayscale launched LPT Trust on March 10, the price of LPT tokens has skyrocketed from US$4.8 to US$40. At the same time, the market was in a high-level oscillation stage, while LPT had an independent trend.

FIL: skyrocketed 3 times to a record high

Launched: March 15, 2021 Assets under management: $5.32 million

Grayscale has a significant market boost for FIL. After Grayscale launched the FIL trust product on March 15, 2021, the price of FIL soared by 19% the next day, and by 39% on March 17, reaching a historical high of $237 on April 1. However, the market was also in a bull market sentiment during the same period, with Bitcoin reaching $60,000 for the first time. In addition, FILs community promotion was also in full swing at the time, and Grayscales trust product may have stimulated the market more as a strong endorsement.

ZEN: Bear market entry all the way down

Launched: August 6, 2018 Assets under management: $4.9 million

When Grayscale launched the ZEN Trust, the market was in a period of volatile decline, so the trust product did not have much impact on the ZEN market. After the ZEN product was launched, the price of ZEN continued to fall from $21 to around $4. However, this decline was also formed in line with the trend of the market. Grayscales ZEN Trust currently accounts for 3.86% of the total market value of ZEN.

BAT: Up to 273%

Launched: March 1, 2018 Assets under management: $120 million

On the day when Grayscale BAT Trust was launched, BAT experienced a relatively violent shock, with an amplitude of 26% and a fixed increase of 9.19%. However, BAT then ushered in a wave of strong growth, with the highest increase in 42 days reaching 273%, creating the second highest point of 1.54 so far. However, the overall market was in a frenzy at the time, and it was difficult to judge how much Grayscales boost contributed to BATs increase.

DEFG: A short-term rebound

Launched: July 14, 2021 Assets under management: $3.34 million

DEFG is a basket of trust funds launched by Grayscale specifically for the DeFi market. It currently holds five tokens, including UNI, MKR, AACE, LDO, and SNX. Among them, UNI has the highest holding ratio, accounting for 50%. The product was established on July 14, 2021, just before the market rebounded after falling from a high level. Therefore, after the launch of DEFG, related DeFi tokens have ushered in a short-term rebound, but the main momentum of these rebounds may still come from the overall market rather than Grayscales boost.

Grayscale Smart Contract Platform Ex-Ethereum Fund: A rebound in the volatile market

Launch date: March 16, 2022 Assets under management: $3.14 million

Grayscale Smart Contract Platform Ex-Ethereum Fund only invests in the native tokens of emerging smart contract platforms. Its current holdings include SOL, ADA, AVAX, and DOT, of which SOL accounts for 71.54%. Judging from the launch time, March 2022 is the first consolidation phase after the market fell, and the market is in a period of volatility. After Grayscale launched the trust at this time, the market ushered in a one-month rebound.

STX: A short-term rebound after a long decline

Launch date: May 22, 2024 Assets under management: $2.21 million

The price trend of STX has been mainly downward in the past six months. Even after Grayscale launched the corresponding crypto trust, it only saw a brief rebound, and the price continued to fall.

NEAR: The market does not seem to react to Grayscale’s trust

Launch date: May 22, 2024 Assets under management: $1.96 million

Grayscale launched trust products for NEAR and STX during the same period, but the crypto market seems to have lost its enthusiasm for this. After the launch, the price of NEAR briefly rebounded by 11% and then began to decline.

TAO: The market is not buying it

Launch date: June 10, 2024 Assets under management: $1.5 million

TAO is one of Grayscales latest crypto trusts, but the market does not seem to have reacted much to TAO. The overall trend remains in its original direction.

Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund: Riding on the AI hype

Launch date: July 2, 2024 Assets under management: $1.09 million

Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund is Grayscales first trust fund that invests only in native tokens of decentralized artificial intelligence protocols. Currently, it holds five tokens, including FIL, NEAR, RNDR, LPT, and TAO. Among them, FIL accounts for the highest proportion of 33%, and NEAR 30%. The product was launched on July 2, 2024. After the launch of the product, tokens such as FIL and NEAR have ushered in a wave of bottoming out and rebounding. FIL rebounded 47% in this wave of market, NEAR rebounded 61%, and LPT rebounded 55%.

SUI: Multiple positive factors stimulate short-term surge

Launch date: August 1, 2024 Assets under management: $630,000

SUIs price trend rebounded strongly in August, and after Grayscale announced the launch of its trust product, it rose by more than 141% in a week. However, there are many reasons why the market is optimistic about SUI as a whole, and Grayscales trust is just one of them, and it is difficult to consider it as the main reason. (Related reading: SUI rose 141% in a week and was called the Solana killer. Is the bullish view tenable? )

MKR: A short-term rebound

Launch date: August 8, 2024 Assets under management: $250,000

After the launch of MakerDAO’s trust product, the market rebounded from its low point, and MKR also saw a 14% increase on the same day. However, it does not seem to have broken out of its independent trend.

Grayscale Trust is always launched at the “tail end of the ox”?

Grayscales biggest impact on the crypto space was during the bull market between 2020 and 2021, when Grayscale significantly increased the size of Bitcoin Trusts assets and brought in a large number of institutional investors to the crypto space. Other tokens performed differently when Grayscale launched its trust products, such as FIL, MANA, and other star tokens of the year, which were also the leading projects in various tracks, and saw the most significant price increases after Grayscale launched its trust products. However, for tokens with larger market capitalizations and longer launch times, such as LTC, ETC, BCH, and other old tokens, it did not have much impact.

In addition, Grayscale launched crypto trust products in 2018, 2021, and 2024. Compared with the overall market, Grayscale previously launched crypto trusts in stages close to the peak of the bull market or in the second half of the bull market. In 2018, it was concentrated from February to August, when the market had just turned from bull to bear and experienced a sharp decline. In 2021, it was concentrated from February to July, when the market experienced a high-level shock and decline, but it began to rise again in August to create a new high. However, the reason for this phenomenon does not seem to be because Grayscale misjudged the market, but more likely because Grayscale needs to confirm the market popularity and maturity of a token before launching related trust products, so the launch time coincides with the end of the bull market.

From May to August 2024, Grayscale will launch a series of crypto trusts. It is unknown whether this wave of Grayscale crypto trusts can break the previous bull tail cycle.

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