Tag: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust

Grayscale Transfers Almost 12,000 BTC To Coinbase, Bitcoin Price Reacts

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In a significant development that could potentially impact the Bitcoin price, Arkham Intelligence data reveals that Grayscale, the manager and owner of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), has been sending a significant amount of Bitcoin to Coinbase since the launch of Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on January 12.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Initiates Substantial BTC Outflow

According to the data, four days ago, Grayscale initiated the first batch of BTC outflows from their holdings to the US-based exchange in four separate batches, totaling 4,000 BTC, which amounted to approximately $183 million. However, the asset manager resumed outflows from the Trust to the exchange on Tuesday.

A portion of Grayscale’s transfers to Coinbase. Source: Arkham

In a recent update, approximately three hours ago, the asset manager sent an additional 11,700 BTC to Coinbase, amounting to $491.4 million. This additional selling pressure could push the Bitcoin price to test lower support levels.

Furthermore, Bloomberg reports that investors have withdrawn over half a billion dollars from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust during the initial days of trading as an ETF.

According to Bloomberg’s data, outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust reached approximately $579 million, while the other nine spot Bitcoin ETFs witnessed inflows totaling nearly $819 million.

Investors Shift Capital To ‘Lower-Cost’ Spot Bitcoin ETFs

James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, noted that investors may be profit-taking following the ETF conversion. The flow data provides valuable insights into the ETF’s performance following SEC approval.

Although over $2.3 billion of GBTC shares were traded on its first day, the outflows indicate that a portion of that volume was due to selling. Seyffart anticipates that a significant amount of capital will enter other Bitcoin exposures.

The outflows from Grayscale’s ETF were somewhat expected. Bloomberg Intelligence had previously projected that the fund would experience outflows of over $1 billion in the coming weeks.

Some of this outflow can be attributed to investors shifting towards more cost-effective spot Bitcoin ETFs. With an expense ratio of 1.5%, GBTC is the most expensive US ETF directly investing in Bitcoin. In contrast, the VanEck Bitcoin Trust, the second-most expensive fund, charges 0.25%.

On the other hand, other spot Bitcoin ETFs have witnessed net inflows. BlackRock’s IBIT attracted nearly $500 million in the first two days of trading, while Fidelity’s FBTC received approximately $421 million.

According to Bloomberg, these inflows suggest strong demand for Bitcoin exposure in physically backed ETFs, even beyond potential seed funding from the fund issuers.

Bitcoin Price Finds Support At $42,000

Currently, the Bitcoin price remains unaffected by the news of Grayscale’s transfers to Coinbase. The leading cryptocurrency is trading at $43,100, showing a slight increase of 0.8% over the past 24 hours.

However, since the commencement of ETF trading, it is important to note that the Bitcoin price has experienced a significant retracement, declining by 8%. This decline can be attributed to profit-taking and selling pressure, with Grayscale’s involvement being noteworthy.

In the event of a further drop in the Bitcoin price, a significant support level has been established at $42,000. If this level is breached, the next key level for Bitcoin bulls to watch is $41,350, followed by a potential dip below $40,000.

The market is eagerly observing whether Grayscale and its BTC selloff will continue and how this will impact the Bitcoin price leading up to the scheduled halving event in April, which many consider to be the main catalyst for the year.

The daily chart shows BTC’s valuation at $43,100. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView.com

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com

Disclaimer: The article is provided for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.

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Ronaldo Marquez

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January 16, 2024
Bitcoin rallies to almost 18-month high on ETF optimism

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Bitcoin surged over 10% on Monday, briefly surpassing $34,500, on continued optimism that an exchange-traded fund investing directly in the cryptocurrency will soon be approved in the U.S.

The largest cryptocurrency
BTCUSD,
+6.59%
by market cap on Monday reached as high as $34,616, the loftiest level since May 2022, according to CoinDesk data, before falling to around $33,021 by Monday evening. Other major cryptocurrencies also rose, with ether up 5.8% over the past 24 hours to $1,763.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has repeatedly rejected bitcoin ETF applications in the past, citing risks of market manipulation. But crypto-industry participants are expecting that to change soon.

Read more: Bitcoin climbs above $30,000 for first time since August as hopes for ETF approval intensify

A U.S. Appeals court on Monday issued a mandate, putting into effect its ruling in August, which overturned the SEC’s rejection of Grayscale Investments’ application to convert its Bitcoin Trust product
GBTC
into an ETF. The final ruling on Monday confirmed Grayscale’s win in court.

Meanwhile, BlackRock’s proposed bitcoin ETF has been listed on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation. While it doesn’t mean that the ETF is guaranteed to be approved, it shows another step closer for BlackRock to bring the fund to the market.

If bitcoin ETFs are approved, the crypto may see “historical price increases,” with a crypto bull market coming, according to Alex Adelman, chief executive and co-founder of Lolli. “Bitcoin ETFs will give institutional and retail investors new ways to gain exposure to bitcoin within established regulations,” Adelman said.

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October 23, 2023
Potential Paths Forward For The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust
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The below is an excerpt from a recent edition of Bitcoin Magazine PRO, Bitcoin Magazine’s premium markets newsletter. To be among the first to receive these insights and other on-chain bitcoin market analysis straight to your inbox, subscribe now.
Although it feels like a lifetime ago, only two months have passed since Genesis announced their need for a $1 billion liquidity injection in the aftermath of the FTX and Alameda fallout. As weeks dragged on without a resolution, details of the story have become more public, building up to fraud allegations against Digital Currency Group (DCG) that were announced by Gemini co-founder and president, Cameron Winklevoss. Gemini is still trying to recover $900 million in assets from Genesis that were used to generate yield for their Earn customers.

Left unresolved and only growing larger, DCG and Genesis problems weigh heavily on the bitcoin market as there are many answers needed and various possible outcomes that have yet to play out.

The biggest question of all is what will happen to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and how these issues will potentially impact the bitcoin price. GBTC has been the preferred vehicle for many to obtain regulated bitcoin exposure and it has also been a breeding ground for speculative arbitrage strategies throughout the previous swings going from a premium to a discount to net asset value (NAV). An approved bitcoin spot ETF in the United States would have likely solved these issues, but we’re still far from that happening.

It’s easiest to start with the GBTC shares on DCG’s balance sheet which are estimated to be around 9.67% of the entire supply. In the event that DCG needs to raise cash or goes down the path of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, selling these shares is potentially an option. Selling into an already illiquid market puts more pressure on the historically low GBTC discount. DCG holds approximately 67 million shares in a market that trades less than 4 million shares a day. However, a more important factor is that by law, DCG can sell no more than 1% of shares outstanding every quarter. It would take them around 2.5 years of constant selling to sell their entire stake.

Another path — the most likely one — is that the GBTC, along with Grayscale’s other trusts, find their way into the hands of a new sponsor and manager. Valkyrie has already proposed to do exactly this:

Give an option for investors to redeem shares at NAV through a Regulation M filing request (although it’s not clear a Regulation M request would get approved by the SEC).

Lower fees from 200 basis points to 75.

Attempt to offer investors redemptions in both cash and spot bitcoin.

The option for a new manager gives investors an opportunity to get out of investments at NAV.

The GBTC product is still a cash cow for Grayscale and DCG, raking in 2% management fees — in perpetuity. Across all major trust products, Grayscale is collecting over $300 million this year from management fees alone. Rather than liquidate the entire trust in the worst case scenario, there will be many willing buyers to take on management of the vehicle without a U.S. spot bitcoin ETF available in the market.

However, liquidation is not a non-zero possibility. In the event of a Grayscale insolvency or bankruptcy, voluntarily liquidation could be pursued unless 50% of shares vote to transfer to a new sponsor. There is upside to DCG liquidating the trust as there’s money to be made from their shares closing to NAV, but that likely results in selling bitcoin on the open market. No one wants to see 632,000 bitcoin — approximately 3.3% of current supply — become selling pressure in the market. In the unlikely scenario where complete liquidation of the trust is undertaken with USD cash being returned to shareholders, one could presume that much of the selling would be absorbed through OTC deals with interested investors. At this point, this is purely hypothetical.

New information is coming to light that has the potential to change the superstructure in regard to the dynamic between Grayscale and the shareholders of Grayscale products. We will continue to write about developments in the coming weeks.

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Dylan LeClair And Sam Rule

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January 13, 2023
Valkyrie Wants To Take Up The Reins Of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust

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Valkyrie Investments has laid out a proposal to take up the reins of troubled bitcoin trust GBTC.

“We understand that Grayscale has played an important role in the development and growth of the bitcoin ecosystem with the launch of GBTC, and we respect the team and the work that they have done,” Valkyrie’s co-founder and CIO, Steven McClurg, said in a statement posted to the company’s website. “However, in light of recent events involving Grayscale and its family of affiliated companies, it is time for a change. Valkyrie is the best company to manage GBTC to ensure its investors are treated fairly.”

McClurg told Bitcoin Magazine that the proposal would be for current GBTC shareholders to vote on via proxy. If chosen by the shareholders, Valkyrie would become the sponsor.

The process isn’t as straightforward as it seems, however. As highlighted on a Bloomberg report, “Grayscale filings state that shareholders take no part in the management or control of the trust, and have limited voting rights. In addition, no amendments to the trust agreement that could materially affect the interests of shareholders can be made with a vote of at least a majority — meaning 50% — of the shares.”

McClurg explained to Bitcoin Magazine that Valkyrie is aware of those issues, and has planned ahead. He declined to comment on any specifics of what that plan might entail, but hinted that this wouldn’t be their first time achieving such a goal. When it comes to the plans for after an eventual takeover, McClurg has it laid out.

The first action Valkyrie would take in the event that it becomes GBTC’s sponsor and manager would be to “immediately file for Reg M exemption,” the executive explained. Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein told Yahoo Finance earlier this month that the trust not allowing redemptions is a result of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shutdown in 2014, who found GBTC redemptions to be in violation of Reg M. According to FINRA, the SEC’s Regulation M “is designed to prevent manipulation by individuals with an interest in the outcome of an offering, and prohibits activities and conduct that could artificially influence the market for an offered security.”

“If approved by the SEC, [the exemption] would allow us to redeem shares at par value for shareholders who want to redeem,” McClurg told Bitcoin Magazine.

The move would allegedly help alleviate what might currently be GBTC’s most pressing issue: a whopping 47% discount of its shares compared to the value of the underlying assets held.

“Redemptions typically cause a discount to narrow due to ability of market makers to arbitrage,” Valkyrie’s executive added.

McClurg said the firm would also reduce the management fee to 75 basis points, down from the 200 basis points currently levied by Grayscale.

It isn’t clear whether Grayscale has sought Reg M exemption yet, and McClurg told Bitcoin Magazine that “nothing is stopping Grayscale from doing this themselves.” GBTC’s current manager is seeking a conversion of the trust into a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund –– something it claims would eliminate the discount given the ability of an ETF to create and redeem shares on demand. It has gone as far as to sue the SEC under the basis that the regulator allowed the listing of futures-based products and doesn’t have the grounds to deny similar spot offerings. This could seemingly help explain the firm’s reluctance to apply for Reg M exemption, as an eventual exemption from the SEC could reduce the discount to near zero and kill its leverage for the ETF move. It isn’t clear whether that is the case, however. Valkyrie would still pursue the conversion if turned GBTC’s manager.

“We would still attempt a conversion, but would work with regulators for an orderly conversion on their time,” McClurg said.

Find more details of Valkyrie’s proposal here.

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Namcios

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December 30, 2022
Grayscale Weighing Returning 20% Of GBTC Assets To Investors If ETF Dreams Fail

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Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein stated in a letter to investors that should the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust fail to convert into an exchange-traded fund (ETF), potential moves could include a tender offer of 20% of the $10.7 billion trust.

A tender offer would appeal to shareholders to offload their shares at a specific time, effectively returning the value invested back to them.

Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust was originally planned to trade like a bitcoin proxy as it sought ETF status, involving a net asset value (NAV) discount or premium. The premium or discount describes the difference in value between shares of the trust and the value of the underlying bitcoin held. When the value of the shares of the trust are higher than the underlying bitcoin, it is considered a premium. When the value of the shares drop below the underlying bitcoin, it is considered a discount.

Investors have recently had to consider their options as the trust faces a continued decline in value, widening the discount to 50%, a record low, stoking fears of already jumpy investors. There is no way to extract bitcoin out of the trust.

Grayscale has been attempting to acquire ETF status for a while, and most recently after being denied, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the lawsuit, Donald B. Verrilli Jr., Grayscale’s senior legal strategist and former U.S. solicitor general, stated that “As Grayscale and the team at Davis Polk & Wardwell have outlined, the SEC is failing to apply consistent treatment to similar investment vehicles, and is therefore acting arbitrarily and capriciously in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and Securities Exchange Act of 1934.”

Despite the SEC’s repeated denial of a spot ETF, it has approved multiple futures ETFs, starting with the ProShares BITO ETF in October of 2021. The reasoning behind this, according to Chairman Gary Gensler, is that futures have “Bitcoin futures have been overseen by sibling agency CFTC for 4 years. That’s wrapped inside the 1940 Act which brings it inside investor protection.”

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BtcCasey

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December 19, 2022