Grayscale investment company has officially filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch the first-ever spot exchange-traded fund linked to the WLD cryptocurrency biometric Worldcoin project. If approved by the regulator, the Grayscale Worldcoin ETF will be traded on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the GWLD ticker, providing investors with access to the digital asset without having to purchase or store it on specialized cryptocurrency platforms. The fund intends to track the WLD price through the CoinDesk Worldcoin Benchmark Rate indicator, and BitGo Bank & Trust will handle the storage of crypto assets. BNY Mellon Bank will act as registrar and administrator, and CSC Delaware Trust Company will assume the functions of trustee, which ensures a high level of institutional support for the product.

The fund's structure involves the creation and repayment of shares in blocks of 10,000 shares, which are called baskets in the industry. Investors will be able to make these transactions using WLD tokens or cash through third-party liquidity providers, which ensures the flexibility of the pricing mechanism. Grayscale emphasized that the fund does not plan to use leverage or derivative financial instruments, limiting its activities exclusively to token storage and unit transactions. The company has not yet disclosed the amount of the initial investment and the number of WLD tokens per share of the fund, leaving these parameters open for further clarification in the application. The amount of the management fee also remains uncertain at the current stage of the regulatory review of the documentation.

The WLD token is a native asset of the biometric cryptoproject World Network, developed by Tools for Humanity under the leadership of Sam Altman and Alex Blania. The project includes the World ID identity verification system, the World App, the World Chain second-level network for scaling Ethereum, and specialized Orb devices for retinal scanning. As of the end of June, there were about 3.5 billion WLD tokens in circulation with a market capitalization of approximately $1.4 billion, although the asset has shown an 8.12 percent decrease in value over the past week. This Grayscale initiative is part of the company's broader strategy to expand its line of crypto funds, including previously submitted applications to launch ETFs for the HYPE token of the Hyperliquid platform and plans to transform the Aave Trust into an exchange-traded fund.

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The material has been prepared solely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice or recommendation.