Cryptocurrency investment firm Grayscale abandons rights to ETHPoW tokens
Grayscale, one of the major cryptocurrency investment firms, has made the decision to officially abandon all rights to the post-Merge proof-of-work (PoW) Ethereum tokens (ETHPoW).
The announcement, made on September 18, states that Grayscale has "irrevocably abandoned" all the rights to the ETHPoW tokens on behalf of the record date shareholders of each product.
After careful review, Grayscale determined that the ETHPoW tokens have not gained significant liquidity and that the custodian of the products does not support these tokens. Grayscale stated, "As such, it is not possible to exercise the rights to acquire and sell the ETHPoW tokens, and on behalf of the record date shareholders, Grayscale is abandoning the rights to these assets."
Grayscale's decision comes after Ethereum's full transition to proof-of-stake (PoS)
This decision by Grayscale to drop the rights for ETHPoW tokens comes over a year after the Ethereum Merge, an event that marked Ethereum's complete transition from PoW to proof-of-stake (PoS). The Merge took place on September 15, 2022, and resulted in the Ethereum blockchain being forked into the main PoS-based Ether (ETH) and the minor PoW-based EthereumPoW (ETHW) tokens.
Following the Merge, Grayscale had been considering whether to acquire EthereumPoW and sell ETHW on behalf of the record date shareholders. After 180 days, the company took an additional six months to make a decision due to uncertainty surrounding the support of ETHW tokens by digital asset custodians and trading venues.
Contrasting strategies among investment firms
Unlike Grayscale, some cryptocurrency investment firms, such as ETC Group, have attempted to launch dedicated EthereumPoW exchange-traded products (ETPs). However, ETC Group terminated its PoW-based ZETW ETP just six weeks after launch, citing the lack of eligible custody providers.
Grayscale's ETHW decision coincides with the launch of an Ether futures exchange-traded fund
The news of Grayscale's decision to drop the rights for ETHPoW tokens came one day before a report from The Wall Street Journal stating that the firm has launched a new Ether futures exchange-traded fund. The report cites a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), although no related filing could be found online by Cointelegraph.
Grayscale has not yet responded to Cointelegraph's request for comment.
