Microsoft-Backed Space and Time Surges as Grayscale Debuts SXT Crypto Fund

Cryptocurrency-focused asset manager Grayscale unveiled its Space and Time Trust on Tuesday, adding to the list of crypto-centric investment products offered by issuers trying to address surging demand. 

The Trust provides exposure to the Space and Time blockchain’s native token, SXT, Grayscale said Tuesday in a statement. 

Space and Time is a layer-1 blockchain that aims to provide real-time database processing for smart contracts, decentralized applications and artificial intelligence tools, according to its website. The network was backed by Microsoft’s M12 Ventures fund, and is integrated within Microsoft’s Fabric data analytics platform.

SXT was recently trading at $0.076, up 16% in the past 24 hours, according to crypto markets data provider CoinGecko.

“Grayscale Space and Time Trust provides investors with access to a project that combines blockchain technology with enterprise-grade data architecture, enabling a wide range of use cases across Web 2.0 and Web 3.0,” Grayscale Head of Product and Research Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary said Tuesday, in a statement. 

The Space and Time Trust, which is a private placement, is only available for daily subscription by eligible investors and institutional accredited investors, Grayscale said. 

The Trust’s debut comes as crypto-focused asset managers and traditional financial services firms ramp up their investment product launches, as U.S. regulators have softened their stance on digital assets.

Since the beginning of this year, two major federal regulators of the Web3 industry—the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission—have shed crypto-skeptic staff members and appointed several pro-digital asset commissioners to their ranks. The agencies have also been allowing cryptocurrency executives and other experts to weigh in on ongoing regulatory reforms that could benefit their industry. 

The regulatory shift has coincided with a surge in new crypto-based investment offerings in the U.S. 

A variety of asset managers have introduced private trusts based on virtual tokens, with Canary Capital and Grayscale debuting products based on AXL and Optimism, respectively, within the past six months.

Meanwhile, investment firms have also flooded regulators’ desks with applications for exchange-traded funds tracking the prices of various cryptocurrencies, including meme coins such as Official Trump and Dogecoin, and altcoins like Aptos, Sui, XRP and Solana. 

In 2013, Grayscale debuted its Bitcoin Trust as a private placement. Two years later, the Trust became a publicly traded fund on an over-the-counter market. The fund received approval to operate as a spot Bitcoin ETF listed on NYSE Arca in January 2024, and nowmanages more than $19 billion in assets.

Edited by James Rubin