Grayscale Removes Aerodrome Finance and Adds Ethena in Its Q1 2026 DeFi Fund Rebalance

[AIcash]

Grayscale Investments has completed its Q1 2026 rebalancing of its DeFi Fund, making one of its most notable component changes in recent quarters. Aerodrome Finance (AERO), which had only been added to the fund during the Q3 2025 rebalancing when it replaced MakerDAO, has been fully removed after just two quarters — its 5.36% weight eliminated entirely. In its place, Grayscale has added Ethena (ENA) at a 13.59% weighting, funded by selling AERO and proportionally trimming other existing holdings. The move signals a shift in Grayscale's view of which DeFi protocols deserve institutional-grade exposure, with Ethena's synthetic dollar and yield infrastructure apparently making a stronger case than Aerodrome's decentralized exchange model.Among the retained holdings, the most significant mover was Ondo (ONDO), which climbed from 14.10% to 19.83% — the largest gain of any component in the fund this quarter, reflecting growing institutional appetite for real-world asset tokenization protocols.

Uniswap (UNI) remains the fund's dominant holding but saw its weight shrink from 42.67% to 35.22%, while Aave (AAVE) also declined from 26.23% to 21.36%. Grayscale evaluates its DeFi and Smart Contract fund compositions quarterly in accordance with index methodologies set by its index provider, meaning these weightings will be reviewed again at the close of Q2 2026. For investors tracking institutional sentiment toward specific DeFi protocols, Grayscale's rebalancing decisions serve as one of the clearest signals of where large asset managers see durable value in the space.

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30.14% versus 29.69% gap being narrow means one strong SOL quarter could reverse it again — the ETH versus SOL institutional narrative is genuinely unresolved.