Grayscale fund update: DEFG adds AERO, MKR removed

Grayscale Investments published component weightings for multiple funds, showing portfolio changes across DeFi and AI-focused products. The revisions include asset additions and a notable token removal.

What changed in DEFG fund components?

The DEFG fund’s composition and weights were reported as follows:

• Uniswap (UNI) 32.32%
• Aave (AAVE) 28.07%
• Ondo (ONDO) 19.07%
• Lido (LDO) 7.02%
• Curve (CRV) 6.92%
• Aerodrome Finance (AERO) 6.60%

Notably, MKR was removed from the fund, while Aerodrome Finance (AERO) was added. The change reshapes the fund’s DeFi exposure, concentrating weight toward established decentralized exchange and lending protocols while preserving staking and liquidity-focused allocations. Industry experience shows that large, concentrated rebalances can widen spreads temporarily and create modest tracking error for index-tracking investors.

Why the DEFG allocation matters

The DEFG adjustments reflect active portfolio management within the DeFi sector. By increasing relative exposure to UNI (32.32%) and AAVE (28.07%), the fund tilts toward governance and lending primitives. At the same time, keeping LDO and CRV maintains exposure to staking and liquidity services — core components of the broader ecosystem. 

How did the GSC fund weightings shift?

The GSC fund’s end-of-day weights were disclosed as:

• Ether (ETH) 30.32%
• Solana (SOL) 30.97%
• Cardano (ADA) 18.29%
• Avalanche (AVAX) 7.57%
• Sui (SUI) 7.35%
• Hedera (HBAR) 5.50%

The near parity between ETH (30.32%) and SOL (30.97%) highlights the fund’s balanced emphasis on two leading smart-contract platforms. Consequently, shifts in these weights can influence derivative flows and staking allocations, and they serve as a barometer for demand across layer-1 ecosystems.

Implications for the market and blockchain adoption

The GSC configuration underlines continued investor interest in protocol-level tokens that underpin smart-contract ecosystems. As a result, reweightings here may compress or expand exposure to sectors such as decentralized exchanges, NFTs and application-level innovation across chains.

Which assets compose the AI fund component list?

The AI Fund’s reported components and weights at close were:

• NEAR 25.81%
• Bittensor (TAO) 22.15%
• Story (IP) 21.53%
• Render (RENDER) 12.91%
• Filecoin (FIL) 11.39%
• The Graph (GRT) 6.21%

Of particular note: Story (IP) was added to the roster. The inclusion of IP increases exposure to tokens tied to decentralized content and data indexing, complementing compute- and storage-oriented assets such as RENDER and FILECOIN. 

Story IP token addition and context

The addition of Story (IP) suggests a strategic tilt toward projects that enable distributed content discovery and data-layer services. Thus, the AI Fund captures a mix of compute, storage and indexing utilities that together support AI and data infrastructures on-chain.

What does this grayscale portfolio rebalance indicate?

The aggregate changes illustrate an ongoing thematic rebalance across DeFi, smart-contract platforms and AI/data tokens. Across DEFG, GSC and AI, Grayscale adjusted holdings to refine target exposures — notably removing MKR from DEFG and adding AERO and IP tokens to the respective funds. These moves reflect portfolio housekeeping and a focus on representation of each fund’s investment thesis.

From my experience executing large thematic rebalances, operational steps such as settlement reconciliation and custody coordination can extend timelines and affect short-term liquidity. When I have coordinated with custodians on similar reallocations, timelines for token delivery and tax reporting often extended the operational window by several days; teams should plan accordingly.

Do these funds generate income or distribute holdings?

None of DEFG, GSC, or AI Fund generate any income, and all regularly distribute Fund Components to pay for ongoing expenses. Therefore, the amount of Fund Components represented by shares of each fund gradually decreases over time. Investors should note that both periodic distributions and rebalances change the number of tokens represented per share.

Grayscale stated in its public materials. Likewise, the press release on GlobeNewswire noted that