Grayscale’s goal is to expose U.S. investors to Bittensor’s TAO and further push decentralized artificial intelligence into the mainstream crypto market.
The digital asset manager filed an initial S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday for what will be the first U.S.-listed exchange-traded product (ETP) offering exposure to TAO.
The proposed Grayscale Bittensor Trust is expected to trade under the symbol GTAO and, if approved, will hold TAO directly, giving investors regulated access to one of the largest tokens related to decentralized artificial intelligence. According to CoinDesk data, TAO’s current market capitalization is approximately $2.3 billion.
“Today, we filed the initial S-1 for Grayscale Bittensor Trust (ticker: $GTAO) with the SEC,” the company said in a post on X, calling the filing the next step in converting the trust into an ETP.
Barry Silbert, chairman of Grayscale, wrote on X that the move reflects how quickly decentralized artificial intelligence is developing. “Decentralized artificial intelligence is developing rapidly, and Grayscale is leading the way to access it,” Silbert said.
The filing marks TAO’s first ETP of its kind in the United States. Previously, Deutsche Digital Assets, a German-regulated exchange-traded product (ETP) provider, said it would list Bittensor ETP, which will be traded on the Swiss Sixth Exchange under the stock code STAO.
Bittensor operates as an open network that leverages cryptoeconomic incentives to coordinate machine learning development, rewarding contributors of models and computing power through TAO. The project has attracted attention as investors seek artificial intelligence-related crypto assets outside of traditional smart contract platforms.
While approval is not guaranteed, the filing highlights how asset managers are increasingly competing to package emerging cryptocurrency narratives, including decentralized artificial intelligence, into regulated investment products, signaling growing institutional interest in the sector.
