On January 20, 2026, Grayscale filed an S-1 registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to convert the Grayscale Near Trust into a spot NEAR exchange-traded fund to list on NYSE Arca. The firm says the conversion aims to reduce the large premiums and discounts that have affected the trust’s trading.
The filing was flagged on X by ETF Hearsay’s Henry Jim on January 20. The trust launched privately in May 2024 and opened to public trading in September 2025, and it currently trades over the counter.
Under the proposal, the renamed Grayscale Near Trust ETF would operate as a passive product holding NEAR tokens directly. Shares would be created and redeemed in blocks of 10,000 through authorized participants using an in-kind and cash mechanism to keep prices closer to net asset value.
The trust carries a 2.50% expense ratio, while ETF fees are still to be announced. The fund manages about $900,000 in assets, with shares trading near $2.85 and a reported NAV around $2.19. (Ed. note: The trust has often traded at sizable premiums or discounts.)
The prospectus also outlines optional staking, though that feature remains inactive for now. Staking would only begin if specific regulatory and tax conditions are met, and Grayscale retains discretion over whether to pursue it.
At filing time, NEAR traded near $1.53, down about 69% over the past year and roughly 17% in the prior week. The move follows a broader push by issuers, including a late-December 2025 Bitwise filing for 11 single-asset crypto ETFs targeting tokens like Aave, Uniswap, and Sui, after record volumes for recent Ethereum and Solana ETFs in early January 2026.
