Grayscale’s SEC-Registered BTC Trust Almost Doubled In 6 Months
- The dollar value of Grayscale’s BTC trust has increased from $1.87 billion at the end of 2019, to $3.5 billion at the end of Q2 2020.
- Being the first cryptocurrency investment vehicle to be registered with the SEC, Grayscale is required to file annual reports with the regulator.
Michael Sonnenshein, Managing Director at Grayscale, speaking at a CoinDesk conference. CoinDesk
New York-based crypto investment firm’s Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has almost doubled in value in the first six months of 2020, the firm said in a quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to the document, the firm’s bitcoin trust went from having a dollar value of $1.87 billion at the end of 2019, to around $3.5 billion by the end of the first quarter, marking an increase of 90 percent. The filing also showed that out of the 133 million shares issued by the trust in 2020, 87 million were issued in Q2 2020 alone, making it one of the best quarters on record for the trust.
The filing further revealed that the Bitcoin held in the GBTC trust increased by 125,531, and nearly reached 387,000 in total, which, based on the asset’s spot price, increased the value of the trust by $1.15 billion. The rest of the increase came from the fact that Bitcoin has increased in price from around $7,200 at the end of 2019, to almost $9,200 by the end of Q2 2020.
Designed to provide an indirect exposure to Bitcoin for traditional market investors, the trust became the first cryptocurrency investment vehicle to be registered with the U.S. SEC back in January. By becoming a SEC reporting company under the Exchange Act of 1934, the trust is required to file quarterly and annual reports with the regulator, publish updates on unscheduled material events and corporate changes.
Back in July, Grayscale reported that Q2 2020 was by far their best quarter on record, having attracted a total of $906 million from investors, and bringing the value of the total assets under its management to $4 billion, according to the firm’s website. The previous best quarter for the firm was Q1 2020, when it was able to raise around $500 million.
- Grayscale’s 15’th crypto investment product will provide investors with access to DeFi protocols such as Uniswap and Aave.
- Grayscale said it will try to have shares of the new product quoted on a secondary market, but there were no guarantees.
Shutterstock
- After failing to get approval for a Bitcoin ETF, Bitwise decided to publicly list its own cryptocurrency fund, under the ticker BITW.
- The new fund will will track the Bitwise 10 Large Cap Crypto Index, a market-cap-weighted index of the ten largest cryptocurrencies.
- Both trusts’ shares, available under the BCHG and LTCN tickers, became available for public trading after receiving DTC eligibility.
- Unlike Grayscale’s BTC trust, the BCH and LTC trusts are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.