Grayscale, a well-known cryptocurrency investment firm, announced on September 18 that it is giving up all rights to the ETHPoW token.
After careful consideration, Grayscale determined that ETHPoW tokens have not developed significant liquidity, and regulatory authorities do not support such tokens. The company stated:
“Therefore, it is not possible to exercise the rights to buy and sell ETHPoW tokens, and on behalf of the shareholders, Grayscale will give up these assets.”
Grayscale’s decision to relinquish rights to the ETHPoW token comes more than a year after the Ethereum Merge, an event that marked Ethereum’s complete transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS). The merge occurred on September 15, 2022, splitting the Ethereum blockchain into Ethereum based on PoS and a smaller Ethereum based on PoW.
Following the merge, Grayscale was considering whether the company should repurchase EthereumPoW and trade ETHW on behalf of shareholders. It took the company an additional 180 days to decide whether to purchase these PoW tokens, citing uncertainty about support for ETHW tokens from digital asset regulators and exchanges.
Unlike Grayscale, some cryptocurrency investment firms like ETC Group attempted to launch specialized EthereumPoW Exchange Traded Products (ETPs). ETC Group ultimately discontinued the ZETW ETP based on PoW only six weeks after its launch, citing a lack of qualified custodial providers.
The news of Grayscale’s ETHW decision comes a day before Grayscale proposed launching a new Ethereum futures exchange-traded fund (ETF). The company applied to list and trade shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust (ETH) ETF under NYSE Arca Rule 8.200-E with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 19.