Grayscale Files For Spot Avalanche ETF With U.S. SEC Amid Altcoin ETF Craze

The Nasdaq exchange filed a formal request with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking permission to list and trade shares of Grayscale’s spot Avalanche (AVAX) exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Grayscale Seeks Approval For AVAX ETF On Nasdaq

Grayscale is now starting down the route for an ETF investing in Avalanche’s AVAX token.

The 19b-4 form for Grayscale’s AVAX ETF follows its registration as a Delaware Trust entity roughly two weeks ago. Similar to the crypto asset manager’s Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, if approved, the proposed rule change would transform Grayscale’s existing Avalanche Trust, launched in August 2024, into a spot exchange-traded fund.

The new product would give investors regulated exposure to AVAX, the native token of the Avalanche network, which currently ranks as the 17th biggest digital asset by market value, according to CoinGecko data.

In the official announcement, Grayscale described the AVAX ETF as a “three-chain smart contract platform” focused on scalability, security, and decentralization. The crypto asset-management company also noted Avalanche’s role in real-world asset tokenization.

The AVAX investment vehicle would use Coinbase Custody as its custodian if given the regulatory green light.

VanEck also recently applied for its prospective spot Avalanche ETF, signaling increasing interest in offering AVAX-based investment vehicles.

Altcoin ETF Race Heats Up

The new filings come as the SEC pivots to a friendlier approach to the digital asset industry under the Trump administration, having recently dropped multiple crypto-related investigations, including against Robinhood, Kraken, Coinbase, OpenSea, and Ripple.

While different types of altcoin applications pile up, Bloomberg ETF analysts previously speculated that Litecoin ETFs have the highest chance of approval, putting the odds for the spot LTC vehicles going live in the U.S. at 90%. Dogecoin ETFs received a 75% chance of approval, followed by Solana (70%) and XRP (65%) products. The U.S. SEC gave the nod to spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024 and spot Ether ETFs in July.