Grayscale Launches New Crypto Investment Funds
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is currently the largest public holder of Bitcoin. But competition is heating up as Osprey launches a rival Bitcoin trust, and several ETFs are filing for approval.
The struggle of institutions for Bitcoin
The largest public holder of Bitcoin is Grayscale, which operates the largest Bitcoin trust, Bank of America said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to BofA, the trust, which trades on the OTC market as a stock, owns 700,000 BTC, which is about 3.5% of the total offer and is worth more than $ 31 billion. The trust manages $ 36.1 billion in assets.
“The Fund has been steadily buying Bitcoin throughout 2020, especially in 4Q20, and has become one of the top 5 cryptocurrency holders,” BofA said.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust was launched in 2013 and is an ideal option for investors who want to add Bitcoin to their portfolio without buying the cryptocurrency directly. For years, using the company has been the only option for investors looking for easy access to BTC, as the SEC has blocked the launch of Bitcoin ETFs for years. The company has been able to take advantage of being the only option for investors, charging an impressive annual fee of 2%, but the competition is starting to heat up.
Last month, the Osprey Bitcoin Trust was launched with an annual commission of 0.49%, which is significantly lower than the Grayscale commission. As of March 18, the Osprey Trust has already raised $ 103 million in assets.
In February, the first Bitcoin ETF in North America was also launched, as Canada approved a target Bitcoin ETF that is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Issuers in the US that have filed with the SEC for Bitcoin ETF approval include VanEck, WisdomTree,
Even Grayscale is planning to launch its own Bitcoin ETF, as CEO Michael Sonnenschein told Insider earlier this month. Recent job listings from the firm have focused on ETF specialists, signaling the firm’s expected advancement into this field if the SEC grants approval.
Grayscale has decided to expand its crypto portfolio
Driven by growing demand from its clients and institutional investors, and in order to maintain its title as the main public holder of Bitcoin, Grayscale is diversifying its offering by creating new cryptocurrency trusts. Bitcoin BTC remains the main investment asset of this fund, which continues to attract new institutional investors.
The company announced the launch of five new funds for the token Basic Attention (BAT), Chainlink (LINK), Decentraland (MANA), Filecoin (FIL) and Livepeer (LPT). This is very good news for the holders of these tokens, whose price has increased as a result of this announcement.
Grayscale holds more than $ 43 billion in BTC, Ethereum, Litecoin, and some other altcoins, but cryptocurrencies like Chainlink or BAT are clearly unknown to the general public, and cause surprise.
Grayscale customers already have the opportunity to invest in BVitcoin( BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Horizon (ZEN), Litecoin (LTC), Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Zcash (ZEC), and now they have 14 more crypto investment funds available.