If approved by the regulator, the Grayscale Worldcoin ETF will trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker GWLD. The exchange-traded fund aims to provide investors with exposure to WLD without the need to purchase or hold the token on cryptocurrency exchanges. The fund intends to track the price of WLD through the CoinDesk Worldcoin Benchmark Rate. BitGo Bank & Trust will serve as the custodian of the crypto assets, BNY Mellon as the registrar and administrator, and CSC Delaware Trust Company as the trustee.
The fund does not intend to use leverage or derivative instruments. Grayscale stated that the WLD-ETF’s activities will be limited to holding tokens and creating and redeeming shares. The company did not disclose the initial investment amount or the number of WLD tokens per share of the fund. Grayscale left these details open and plans to amend the filing at a later date. Grayscale has not yet specified the ETF’s management fee.
The fund structure implies that its participants will create or redeem fund shares in blocks of 10,000 shares, known as baskets. Investors will be able to execute these transactions using WLD tokens or cash through third-party liquidity providers, according to the filing.
WLD is the native token of the biometric crypto project World Network, developed by Tools for Humanity. The company was founded by Sam Altman and Alex Blania. It was previously known as Worldcoin. The World Network project includes the World ID identity verification system. Other products from the company include the World App, the Layer 2 World Chain network for scaling the Ethereum network, and Orb devices that scan iris patterns during identity verification.
The Grayscale filing notes that, as of June 30, approximately 3.5 billion WLD tokens were in circulation, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.4 billion. Over the week, the token declined by 8.12% to $0.3770. The daily trading volume of the token decreased by 19.67% to $146.08 million.
Previously, Grayscale Investments filed an application to launch an exchange-traded fund tracking the native HYPE token of the decentralized Hyperliquid platform. The company aims to add staking functionality to the fund. This year, Grayscale notified the regulator of its plans to convert its Aave Trust into an ETF tracking the cryptocurrency AAVE.