[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee (이윤서)] Grayscale plans to change the custodian for its Hyperliquid spot exchange-traded fund from Coinbase to Anchorage Digital Bank.

On April 21 (local time), blockchain media outlet CoinPost reported that Grayscale reflected the change of lead custodian for the Hyperliquid-linked ETF, GHYP, in an amended S-1 filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The ETF's transfer agent will remain Bank of New York Mellon, or BNY, as before. Grayscale will keep the CoinDesk Hyperliquid Benchmark Extended Rate as its price index. It also included a staking feature on the condition that it receives approval from regulators.

The change comes as Coinbase has effectively dominated custody in the U.S. spot bitcoin ETF market. Coinbase currently serves as lead custodian for most U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs except Fidelity. With Grayscale choosing a separate custodian for GHYP, the prospect of changes to custody competition within the ETF market is being raised.

Anchorage is the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States. Founded in 2017 as a custodian, Anchorage already held some assets of Grayscale's bitcoin and ethereum trusts in August 2024. This time it has been formally designated as the lead custodian for GHYP, expanding the scope of its role.

Grayscale first applied for the product on March 20, 2025. 21Shares and Bitwise applied for related ETFs first, and Grayscale entered the market later. The amended filing includes the custodian change, keeping the transfer agent and including a staking feature subject to approval.

The market is also focusing on growth in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, the underlying asset. Hyperliquid's HIP-3 market open interest hit a record high of $2.38 billion last week. That was up about 580 percent from about $280 million at the start of the year.

HIP-3 is a 24-hour perpetual futures market based on stocks and commodities. Users are using it as a way to access stock and commodity futures outside regular trading hours. The analysis is that this growing demand led to a surge in open interest.

Differences from existing major exchanges are also being highlighted. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or CME, and the New York Stock Exchange, under Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE, do not yet offer 24-hour trading year-round for stock futures. Hyperliquid is growing the HIP-3 market by targeting this gap.

As a result, the review of GHYP is seen as a case that goes beyond a simple decision on whether to approve a new product, and also shows competition among custodians and the trend of Hyperliquid market expansion. As Grayscale continues the review process after switching custodians, future decisions by regulators and whether staking is allowed are expected to emerge as key variables.