Key Takeaways
- Digital asset manager Grayscale has announced the launch of the Grayscale MakerDAO Trust.
- MakerDAO is the decentralized autonomous organization behind the DAI stablecoin on Ethereum.
- Unlike spot bitcoin and ether ETFs, the new fund is a close-ended fund, not traded on exchanges yet and available only to accredited investors.
- Grayscale’s bitcoin and ether offerings were also structured as trusts prior to their conversion to ETFs.
Grayscale unveiled a new fund—Grayscale MakerDAO Trust—offering investors exposure to Maker (MKR), the utility and governance token for MakerDAO.
MakerDAO is best known as the decentralized autonomous organization behind the DAI stablecoin (DAIUSD)on Ethereum, which is the third-largest stablecoin behind Tether (USDTUSD) and USD Coin (USDCUSD).
This Is Not a New Crypto ETF
It is important to note that this new offering is structured as an investment trust. Unlike exchange-traded funds, investment trusts are close-ended, considered less liquid and are more likely to trade at a price different from the net asset value of their portfolio.
So, unlike Grayscale’s spot bitcoin (GBTC) and ether (ETHE) ETFs, the Grayscale MakerDAO Trust is a close-ended fund that is not traded on exchanges yet and will be accessible only to accredited investors.
This new fund does not allow redemptions at all and your money essentially would be locked away for at least a year before the shares of the fund are eligible to be resold in the secondary market. It also carries a 2.5% management fee.
Grayscale’s bitcoin and ether funds were also structured as trusts prior to their conversion to ETFs after getting an approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
This new launch also follows Grayscale’s introduction of trusts for native tokens for Bittensor (TAOUSD) and Sui (SUIUSD) earlier in August.
The price of MKR jumped roughly 5% following the announcement.