Ethena Jumps 4% After Grayscale Adds It to DeFi Fund in Q1 Rebalancing

Ethena Jumps 4% After Grayscale Adds It to DeFi Fund in Q1 Rebalancing

Grayscale Investments reshuffled its crypto portfolios this week as part of its Q1 2026 fund rebalancing. The firm removed Aerodrome Finance from its DeFi Fund and replaced it with Ethena, a yield-focused decentralized finance protocol. 

Ethena rose 4.33% in the last 24 hours following the announcement. Grayscale also made adjustments to its Smart Contract Fund, though no new assets were added to that portfolio.

Ethena Replaces Aerodrome

The biggest change came in Grayscale’s DeFi Fund. Following the CoinDesk DeFi Select Index methodology, the firm sold AERO and portions of other existing holdings to purchase ENA.

As of May 1, 2026, the fund holdings stood at:

• Uniswap (UNI) – 35.22%
• Aave (AAVE) – 21.36%
• Ondo (ONDO) – 19.83%
• Ethena (ENA) – 13.59%
• Curve (CRV) – 5.27%
• Lido DAO (LDO) – 4.73%

Smart Contract Fund Stays Focused on Layer 1s

Grayscale also adjusted the weightings of its Smart Contract Fund using the CoinDesk Smart Contract Platform Select Capped Index methodology. Unlike the DeFi Fund, no assets were removed or added.

The updated allocations are:

• Ethereum (ETH) – 30.14%
• Solana (SOL) – 29.69%
• Cardano (ADA) – 17.96%
• Avalanche (AVAX) – 7.69%
• Hedera (HBAR) – 7.41%
• Sui (SUI) – 7.11%

The allocation shows Grayscale still heavily favors established smart contract ecosystems led by Ethereum and Solana.

What This Signals for the Market

These updates give a simple look into where institutional investors believe crypto is heading. Grayscale appears to be betting more on DeFi projects connected to stablecoins, yield, and tokenized assets rather than only trading platforms.

At the same time, the company is still keeping strong exposure to big blockchain ecosystems like Ethereum and Solana, which continue to dominate developer activity and liquidity in crypto markets.

Overall, rebalances like this reflect where capital is rotating. The question is whether flows follow or lag.