Grayscale Proposes US ETF for NEAR Protocol Exposure

Asset manager Grayscale has submitted an application to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to convert its NEAR Protocol Trust into an exchange-traded fund. The Tuesday filing included a preliminary prospectus for the Grayscale NEAR Trust, which holds NEAR Protocol tokens and issues shares representing fractional ownership.

The firm’s plan involves converting the existing Trust into an ETF to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange Arca. This effort mirrors Grayscale’s established model of starting with private trusts, progressing to OTC markets, and eventually achieving ETF conversion.

The company followed this model in 2025 by converting its Digital Large Cap Fund, Chainlink Trust, and XRP Trust into ETFs. Just this month, it created new Delaware trusts for prospective products centered on Binance Coin and Hyperliquid.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart highlighted the trend on Tuesday, stating, “Crypto ETP filings continue to come across the SEC’s desk.” The NEAR Trust in question debuted on the OTCQB, a key US secondary market, in September under the symbol GSNR.

Currently, the trust has $900,000 in assets under management. Its net asset value per share sits at $2.19, a figure that is down 45% from its launch, paralleling the decline in altcoin markets over the past four months.