#TrumpAnnouncesNewTariffs 🏛️ The ETF Battle: Grayscale vs. Bitwise (AAVE Edition)

While Grayscale’s $GAVE ticker is grabbing the headlines, the race for the next spot crypto ETF is officially a multi-front war. Both firms are deploying vastly different playbooks to win over the SEC and capture institutional liquidity.
The Grayscale Play: The "Buy-Wall" Strategy
Following their successful conversion of BTC and ETH trusts, Grayscale filed their S-1 on February 13, 2026, to transition the existing Grayscale Aave Trust into a spot ETF.
The Ace in the Hole: A unique 2.5% fee structure paid directly in AAVE.
The Impact: This creates a perpetual buy-wall for the token, as fees are recycled back into the underlying asset, potentially providing a structural price floor that competitors lack.
The Bitwise Play: The "Brute Force" Diversification
Bitwise took a different approach, making a massive preemptive move in late December 2025 by filing for 11 different crypto ETFs simultaneously.
The Strategy: Positioning themselves as the "diversified institutional choice."
The Advantage: While Grayscale has the edge on immediate liquidity through trust conversion, Bitwise is betting that institutions want a "one-stop-shop" provider for a broad basket of DeFi assets.