Grayscale Near Trust is a statutory investment trust that provides accredited, institutional, and retail investors with indirect investment exposure to NEAR, the native digital asset powering the NEAR Protocol blockchain. Founded in May 2024 as a Delaware statutory trust, the entity is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and is sponsored by Grayscale Investments, LLC, an indirect subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, Inc. The trust operates within the financial services and asset management industry in the United States, offering equity shares that are publicly quoted on the OTCQB Venture Market under the ticker symbol GSNR.
The trust's core product and service offerings comprise: publicly traded common shares designed to track the market price of the underlying NEAR token holdings, less trust expenses and management fees; single-asset digital currency investment vehicles providing market exposure to Layer 1 decentralized cloud and smart contract infrastructure without requiring investors to directly purchase, store, or manage cryptocurrency wallets; institutional-grade asset safekeeping and custody services facilitated by Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC; administrative and fiduciary oversight administered by CSC Delaware Trust Company; and brokerage-accessible investment shares compatible with standard taxable brokerage accounts, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), and other qualified tax-advantaged retirement plans.
In recent corporate developments, the trust has executed several major operational and strategic milestones. Originally launched as a private placement offering for accredited investors in May 2024, the vehicle subsequently broadened market access by obtaining public quotation on the OTCQB market under the ticker GSNR. Furthermore, Grayscale has filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to convert the Grayscale Near Trust into a spot exchange-traded fund. Subject to regulatory approvals and registration effectiveness, the fund will rebrand as the Grayscale Near Trust ETF and uplist its securities to NYSE Arca, enabling simultaneous share creation and redemption mechanisms designed to align trading prices more closely with the underlying net asset value.