Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Seeks ETF Conversion to Reduce Discount
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has recently shared enthusiasm regarding the conversion of GBTC shares into Bitcoin ETF. If realized, the new investment product will remove 8.09% discount from $1.89 billion GBTC share price. In this manner, the ETF price will become more aligned with the actual value of BTC leading to greater benefits for investors.
Grayscale Awaits SEC Approval
Craig Salm, Chief Legal Officer of Grayscale noted that the product is currently awaiting approval from Securities and Exchange Commission. Once granted, GBTC will migrate from OTCQX to NYSE Arca exchange.
This move will also align GBTC prices with Bitcoin spot value. At the same time, it will also add a streamlined mechanism for investors to generate or redeem shares from the fund. Bloomberg analyst, Eric Balchunas recently noted that the transition depends on regulation M relief.
In a prior discussion he noted that SEC may invoke regulation M to postpone some procedures. However, he has refrained from confirming the occurrence. Regulation M is a preventive policy that prevents the possibility of market manipulation.
Bloomberg analyst noted that regulation M was mentioned after Grayscale conducted meeting with SEC officials. Therefore, he retained that this may play an important role on final decision of the regulatory agency.
During the last 24 hours, Bitcoin prices reached a new height of $41K indicating a visible rise in trading volume. On this account, the possibility of a Bitcoin ETF is also increased paving a stronger avenue for investors purchase Bitcoin. Such a prospect has led to a 3% increase in Bitcoin spot prices on intraday trade.
James Seyffart, another Bloomberg analyst noted on social media that SEC postponed the decision 34 days before 1st January. He and Balchunas have talked about 90% probability of Bitcoin ETF approval before 10th January, 2024.
However, the duo has noted that the probable timeline was introduced to lineup all spot ETF applicants before 10th January. Among other financial giants, Franklin Tempelton is another major firm that has entered the race of Bitcoin spot ETFs.
CEO, Jenny Johnson recently disclosed in an interview that she has added Bitcoin, Ethereum, Uniswap, and Sushiswap in her personal portfolio. She retained that that the ratio of cryptocurrencies in her portfolio is smaller in comparison to other assets.
Franklin Templeton CEO Talks About Bitcoin Spot ETF Approval
During a recent interview, CEO Johnson talked about Bitcoin spot ETF noting that the firm filed for spot ETF application with SEC in September. She further stated that Bitcoin spot ETF she is uncertain about the approval timeline while retaining that regulators are working on ensuring best approach for the investment product.
Her firm forayed into the blockchain sector in 2021 with the launch of tokenized money-market fund and separately managed crypto-trading accounts. She claimed in an interview that the firm is a big believer in blockchain and crypto.
At the same time, she talked about adding democracy to private markets using blockchain technology. According to her opinion, this technology removes the frictional costs of making transactions.
She further noted that once added trading fees are reduced, investors can securitize and fractionalize propriety of different investment assets in a digital manner. She noted that outside of blockchain networks this upgrade will be difficult to execute.
