Grayscale Investments filed Amendment No. 1 to its Bittensor (TAO) S-1 registration with the SEC on April 2, 2026, advancing its plan to convert the existing over-the-counter trust into a spot ETF listed on NYSE Arca under the ticker GTAO.

The filing registers an indeterminate number of TAO-backed shares for continuous issuance and updates operational details, including pricing via the CoinDesk Bittensor Benchmark Rate. The trust already holds physical TAO custodied by Coinbase Custody and BitGo, with roughly 2 million tokens outstanding as of early April.

What Makes This Different

Most crypto ETF filings cover Bitcoin or Ethereum. Grayscale's Bittensor bet targets something new: a decentralized AI marketplace where participants contribute models, data, and compute power across specialized subnets and earn TAO rewards validated through Yuma Consensus.

If approved, GTAO would be the first SEC-approved spot ETF tracking an AI-native blockchain protocol — a meaningful distinction as institutions increasingly hunt for crypto exposure tied to AI rather than just digital gold.

Market Context

TAO trades near $307 with a market cap around $3.31 billion as of early April. The network runs over 128 subnets handling tasks from language model training to image generation. The December 2025 halving cut daily emissions in half, contributing to price strength heading into the ETF filing.

Grayscale Chairman Barry Silbert has noted that decentralized AI is "developing quickly," framing the move as early positioning for institutional investors who can't self-custody tokens but want exposure to open-source AI infrastructure.

The SEC timeline for a decision has not been disclosed. Grayscale's conversions of its Bitcoin and Ethereum trusts attracted significant institutional inflows after approval — setting a template this filing appears designed to follow.