Grayscale Enters HYPE ETF Race with New Staking Fund

Grayscale rebrands its Hyperliquid fund to the Hyperliquid Staking ETF (GHYP), targeting 2 million HYPE tokens to compete with Bitwise and 21Shares.

The move places the company in direct competition with already launched products from Bitwise and 21Shares, highlighting how quickly Hyperliquid is becoming one of the most sought-after assets among institutional investors.

According to filed documents, Grayscale is in advanced talks with Hyper Holdings Global LP to acquire approximately 2 million HYPE tokens. This cache will serve as seed liquidity for the upcoming fund. At current market prices, the package is valued at roughly $115 million, representing one of the largest initial ETF positions in the altcoin sector to date.

Parallel to this acquisition, the company is adjusting the product’s structure and name. Instead of the originally announced Grayscale HYPE ETF, the new fund will be named the Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF and will trade under the ticker GHYP. This change is more than a marketing pivot; it signals Grayscale’s intention to actively stake a significant portion of its HYPE holdings, adding protocol yields to the potential returns for investors.

Hyperliquid Gains Wall Street Attention

The interest in Hyperliquid is no coincidence. Over the past year, the decentralized perpetual futures platform has emerged as one of the fastest-growing ecosystems in the crypto industry, generating nearly $3 trillion in trading volume.

Unlike many other crypto projects, Hyperliquid does not rely on a traditional venture capital model with large funds behind the scenes. Instead, the platform returns a significant portion of generated fees to network participants and stakers, creating a unique economic structure.

This combination of real revenue, high activity, and limited supply is drawing the attention of institutional investors looking for exposure beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.

ETF Competition Intensifies

Grayscale is entering a market that is becoming increasingly crowded. In recent weeks, Bitwise and 21Shares launched their own spot HYPE ETFs on the U.S. market. Data suggests these two products attracted between $100 million and $120 million in assets under management within just the first two weeks of trading.

This makes Hyperliquid one of the few crypto assets outside of BTC and ETH to successfully build a genuine ETF ecosystem with several competing funds operating simultaneously.

For investors, this competition typically results in lower fees, higher liquidity, and faster institutional adoption. However, for the token itself, the impact on circulating supply may be the most critical factor.

Limited Supply Remains a Key Factor

Market participants are closely watching how ETF demand will impact the available supply of HYPE on the open market. Unlike traditional financial assets, where issuing new shares does not affect the supply of the underlying instrument, crypto ETFs require the actual purchase and storage of tokens.

Analysts suggest Grayscale has already accumulated roughly $25 million worth of HYPE for staking purposes ahead of the fund’s official launch. If the company completes the planned 2-million-token deal, a significant amount of liquidity will be removed from the market and locked within the ETF structure.

This institutional activity comes as HYPE consolidates around the $56 – $57 levels following a strong rally in recent months. Some traders believe consistent buying from ETF issuers could create a stable support zone for the price, especially if institutional inflows continue to accelerate.

With Grayscale’s entry, the race for Hyperliquid ETF products moves into a new phase. Should institutional interest remain robust, HYPE could establish itself as the first major altcoin after Ethereum to build a standalone exchange-traded market featuring real competition among leading asset managers.