Grayscale’s Spot Chainlink ETF Pulls $41M on Debut Despite Market Uncertainty

Core Insights - Grayscale's first US spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) linked to Chainlink opened with strong demand, indicating potential resilience for altcoins in a cooling crypto market [1][2] Fund Performance - The Chainlink ETF attracted $41 million in net inflows and $13 million in trading volume on its debut, marking it as one of the stronger ETF launches this year [3][4] - The performance of the Chainlink ETF surpassed that of the Solana ETF, which had $8.2 million in volume, but fell short of the XRP ETF's $243 million in first-day inflows [4][8] Market Context - The launch of the Chainlink ETF is part of a broader trend, with several new altcoin ETFs being introduced, including those tied to Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin [7] - The Canary Capital XRP ETF debuted with $58 million in net inflows, the highest for any ETF this year, while the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF launched with $57 million [7] Investor Sentiment - Analysts suggest that while the Chainlink ETF's launch was not a "blockbuster," it still indicates that regulated vehicles are preferred by some investors for accessing higher-risk digital assets [4][8] - The Chainlink network's infrastructure role in providing external data for on-chain applications is seen as a factor driving interest in its token, despite its year-over-year decline of over 39% [5][6]