Grayscale Launches New Trusts for Lido DAO and Optimism Tokens
Grayscale Investments, a leading asset management firm in the crypto sector, has launched two new trusts to provide institutional investors with access to Lido DAO (LDO) governance tokens and the Optimism protocol (OP).
The new offerings, Grayscale® Lido DAO Trust and Grayscale® Optimism Trust, are now open for subscription. They are exclusively available to eligible individual and corporate investors with specific financial criteria, including a net worth of at least $1 million or an annual household income of $300,000.
Products Designed for Market Accessibility
Prior to these launches, Grayscale had already incorporated LDO and OP into its Financials Crypto Sector portfolio, which focuses on cryptocurrencies that facilitate financial transactions and services.
These trusts are designed for investors seeking indirect exposure to LDO and OP due to the volatility of the crypto market. The trusts aim to replicate the price movements of the underlying assets, similar to Grayscale's existing single-asset trusts.
Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Grayscale's Head of Product & Research, noted that these offerings will contribute to the advancement of the Ethereum ecosystem.
“Grayscale Lido DAO Trust and Grayscale Optimism Trust provide investors with exposure to protocols that enhance Ethereum's efficiency, security, scalability, and adoption within the broader DeFi ecosystem – playing a critical role in the Ethereum story,” she stated.
A Closer Look at Lido DAO and Optimism
Lido and Optimism are both Ethereum-based projects but serve different purposes. Optimism is a layer-2 solution aimed at reducing congestion on the Ethereum network by providing faster and cheaper transactions.
Conversely, Lido DAO specializes in liquid staking solutions, enabling users to stake Ethereum while retaining liquidity, thereby securing the Ethereum network and promoting the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi).
The introduction of these trusts follows Grayscale's recent reopening of private placements for its 19 other trusts, which include offerings for Ripple's XRP, Solana, Stellar, Avalanche, AAVE, Chainlink, Filecoin, NEAR, Bittensor, and Zcash.
On November 19, Grayscale announced that accredited investors can subscribe to these placements at net asset value (NAV), allowing them to hold and later sell their shares on the secondary market.
In August, Grayscale expanded its offerings by introducing the Avalanche Trust, targeting accredited investors interested in Avalanche's native token, AVAX. This move reflects the company's commitment to providing diverse crypto investment products for institutional clients.