Grayscale Investments filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC on Jan. 20, initiating the process to convert its Grayscale Near Trust (OTC: GSNR) into a spot ETF. The proposed fund, if approved, would list on the NYSE Arca, migrating the product from the illiquid OTCQB markets to a national securities exchange.
Markets reacted immediately. NEAR jumped roughly 5% to trade near $1.78 following the disclosure, outperforming a flat crypto major index. The filing marks Grayscale’s latest offensive in the “Altcoin ETF” race, following similar moves for Solana and XRP.
The Staking Gambit
The most notable detail in the filing is Grayscale’s explicit inclusion of staking language, a regulatory third rail that forced issuers like Fidelity and Ark Invest to strip yield-generation from their ETH ETFs last year.
According to the S-1:
"The Sponsor anticipates that the Trust would enter into written arrangements with the Custodian to stake the Trust’s NEAR to one or more vetted third-party staking providers."
This phrasing forces the SEC to re-adjudicate its stance on commingled staking assets. To date, the agency has viewed staking services within ETPs as an unregistered securities offering. By keeping the provision in the primary filing, Grayscale is betting that a shifting regulatory environment in 2026 may soften this hard line.
Liquidity & Structure
Currently, GSNR trades on OTC markets, where premiums and discounts to Net Asset Value (NAV) can swing violently due to the lack of a redemption mechanism. Converting to an ETF introduces an arbitrage mechanism (creations and redemptions) that tethers the share price to the underlying asset.
The filing lists Coinbase Custody as the custodian and CSC Delaware Trust Company as the trustee. If approved, the conversion would unlock institutional access to NEAR exposure without the operational friction of on-chain custody.
