Weekly roundup: Ark Invest, Edge Wealth Management, and Rothschild Investment accumulate crypto

Published at: July 23, 2021

As the price of Bitcoin returned to more than $32,000 this week, some major firms announced they had increased their exposure to cryptocurrencies through Grayscale’s crypto trusts.

According to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, New York-based investment firm Edge Wealth Management currently holds 54,134 shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), valued at $27.13 at the time of publication, and 25,280 shares of the company’s Ethereum Trust (ETHE). The crypto holdings are worth almost a combined $2 million at $1,468,655 and $466,668, respectively, roughly 0.3% of the $703 million total assets under management the company reported on Feb. 2.

Grayscale’s crypto trusts are not new investment opportunities for Edge. The investment firm held 37,605 GBTC and 17,300 ETHE shares in April, representing increases of 44% and 46%, respectively.

Some institutions’ exposure to Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies through Grayscale have increased as digital currencies attain a larger role in the global economy. Similar filings with the SEC show Rothschild Investment Corporation quadrupled its exposure to Bitcoin through Grayscale, owning 38,346 GBTC shares in April and 141,405 GBTC as of June 30. With more than $1 billion in assets reported under management as of April 8, the Bitcoin trust shares represent less than 0.09% of the investment firm’s holdings.

However, Cathie Wood's Ark Invest is continuing to purchase GBTC shares at a higher rate than the two aforementioned companies. This week, the investment firm reported that it purchased more than 450,000 shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust in two separate buys, bringing its combined holdings to more than 9 million shares, or roughly 0.5% of its portfolio. At its peak in March, GBTC represented 0.9% of Ark’s portfolio.

“The investment community continues to express interest in the digital currency asset class, and the crypto ecosystem more broadly, and as these assets gain mainstream adoption, we anticipate investors will seek new ways to access digital currencies to further diversify their portfolios,” said Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein in a letter to investors.

The reports of GBTC purchases come the same week that Grayscale unlocked 16,240 BTC worth of its Bitcoin Trust shares after six months. Though there was some speculation that the price of the crypto asset could be adversely affected by such a large release in a single day, BTC saw a roughly 2.9% increase in price week-over-week and reached $32,457 at the time of publication.