Crypto firm GSR pushes into ETFs with Wall Street-style treasury fund

GSR has filed for a new ETF that bundles public companies using their own stock to buy crypto like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, turning a weird Wall Street trick into a formal investment product.

The fund is called the GSR Digital Asset Treasury Companies ETF, and the point isn’t to back crypto themselves, but to follow companies that bought tokens with equity. Basically, instead of raising money the normal way, these firms issued inflated shares and turned them into Bitcoin or Solana.

GSR is packaging that entire idea into one fund. The plan also includes up to 15% of the fund in private deals known as PIPEs, that is when investors buy shares straight from a company. That cap exists to avoid problems with ETF liquidity rules.

GSR builds crypto ETF as deal momentum slows

GSR launched a U.S. asset management division and opened a new office in New York to go full throttle on this. This will be its first ETF, but not the last. GSR is also planning four more funds, including an Ethereum staking fund and one called “Crypto Core3” that mixes Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. They’re clearly trying to carve out space fast.

GSR already has skin in the game. It helped Upexi buy Solana and manage the portfolio tied to that deal. It says it has handled more than $1 trillion in trades across over 250 tokens.

The strategy it’s pushing with this ETF takes the retail-driven hype behind crypto and adds institutional packaging. But the problem is, the energy around these trades peaked back in July. The companies that jumped into this trend have been watching their stocks fall. Investors are no longer impressed just because a company bought a bunch of crypto.

And GSR isn’t the only one trying to make crypto trades easier to access. There’s already the Grayscale Bitcoin Adopters ETF (BCOR), which follows firms holding Bitcoin. There’s also REX’s ETF (BMAX), which tracks convertible bonds from crypto-heavy companies.

SEC clears path for crypto ETFs under new rule

The timing of this filing lines up with a major change from the SEC. The agency just adopted new rules to fast-track commodity-based ETF listings, which include crypto. Under the old rules, new ETF applications could take up to 270 days to clear. Now, if a fund meets a few basic requirements, it could launch in 75 days or less.

Grayscale was the first to act. Within two days of the SEC’s vote, it rolled out its Grayscale CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF, which includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano. Grayscale CEO Peter Mintzberg said this approval showed their push for “public market access, regulatory clarity and product innovation” is finally paying off.

Right now, there are 21 crypto ETFs in the U.S. that hold Bitcoin or Ethereum or both. And more are on the way. Steven McClurg, who runs Canary Capital Group, said, “We’ve got about a dozen filings with the SEC now, and more coming. We’re all getting ready for a wave of launches.”

Teddy Fusaro, the president of Bitwise, said, “Those filings are pretty far along in the review process. These are the rules we had been anticipating.”

Analysts believe the first funds to get approved under the new SEC rules will likely be tied to Solana and XRP. Those launches are expected by early October. Jonathan Groth at DGIM Law said the last quarter of 2025 could be packed with new crypto ETF debuts.

To qualify under the fast process, the ETF must meet at least one of three conditions. The coin either needs to trade on a regulated market or have CFTC-regulated futures that have been live for at least six months. Or there needs to be another ETF tied to the same coin, with 40% of its holdings directly in that crypto instead of swaps or options.

But not every pending ETF meets those bars. Kyle DaCruz, director at VanEck, said, “The next step is to talk to our lawyers to see which products can move forward and how rapidly will they get onto the market.”

Still, there’s a big question mark around investor interest. Kyle said the flood of new ETFs will bring in a ton of tokens most people have never heard of. “Instead of years as with Bitcoin, there will be weeks or months to provide that education.”

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