Major cryptocurrency investment company Grayscale Investments filed an S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a spot Avalanche (AVAX) exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Grayscale filed with the SEC on Friday to convert its existing Avalanche Trust into a publicly traded ETF, according to a registration statement released on Monday.
The proposed fund uses the same wording as the underlying ticker of the Avalanche (AVAX) cryptocurrency. It is designed to provide investors with direct exposure to the asset through traditional brokerage accounts.
Coinbase Custody will act as the custodian for AVAX, while BNY Mellon is expected to serve as the fund’s administrator and transfer agent.
Nasdaq filed with SEC to list AVAX in March
Grayscale’s S-1 for a spot Avalanche ETF came months after the US stock exchange Nasdaq submitted a filing to the SEC seeking permission to list the fund in March 2025.
“In connection with the effectiveness of this registration statement and the listing of the Shares on the Nasdaq stock market, the sponsor intends to rename the Trust as Grayscale AVAX Trust ETF as described in this registration statement,” Grayscale wrote in the filing.
The spot AVAX filing comes a year after Grayscale introduced the Avalanche Trust, an AVAX investment trust, in August 2024.
The new filing comes in line with Grayscale’s active expansion spot crypto ETF offerings, including filings for ETFs tracking XRP (XRP) and Dogecoin (DOGE) earlier this year.
Who else has filed for Avalanche ETF?
Grayscale is not the first issuer to file a form S-1 registration statement for an ETF tracking the price of Avalanche.
VanEck, one of the early movers attempting to launch a Bitcoin (BTC) ETF in the US, filed for VanEck Avalanche ETF in March 2025, seeking to offer investors direct exposure to the crypto asset.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs hit 5-day losing streak, but Pomp says BTC is oversold
Launched in September 2020, Avalanche is an open-source blockchain platform that supports decentralized applications and smart contracts. The protocol is developed by Ava Labs, a startup founded by Cornell University’s Emin Gün Sirer.
After nearly five years since its launch in September 2020, Avalanche has established itself as a major blockchain platform, ranking as the 22nd largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization with a $10.2 billion market cap, according to CoinGecko.
AVAX is down 35% year-to-date
Unlike major crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) — which surged by around 70% in the past year — the price of AVAX has seen a significant decline since late 2024.
After surging to $54.2 in December 2024, Avalanche has lost 55% of value as of Monday, trading at $24.3 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko. The crypto asset is down 35% year-to-date.
Avalanche has been gaining momentum recently, with Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital announcing a $300 million tokenization project on Avalanche last week.
The network is also among the blockchains for the debut of Wyoming’s Frontier Stable Token (FRNT) stablecoin, alongside major platforms like Ethereum and Solana.
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