Investment firm Wilshire Phoenix has filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, for a publicly traded Bitcoin Fund in line with regulation. The registration reads: "The Shares will provide investors with exposure to bitcoin in a manner that is accessible and cost-efficient without the uncertain and often complex requirements relating to acquiring or holding bitcoin." Wilshire’s new Bitcoin Commodity Trust aims to have its shares available for public trading on OTC Markets Group, Inc.’s OTCQX Best Marketplace. Once issued, shares of the trust can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like …

Qiao Wang — Investor, analyst and head of product at crypto market data firm Messari — raised major criticism about the way in which the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, is set up. In a June 11 tweet, Wang cites Grayscale’s official website, according to which “Grayscale Bitcoin Trust does not currently operate a redemption program and may halt creations from time to time.” He suggested that the absence of a redemption mechanism can result in GBTC trading at a discount compared to the net asset value, or NAV, of the fund’s assets. “You are just donating your money to …

A Fidelity survey of 774 institutional investors found that more than one-third of firms worldwide have invested in digital assets or derivatives. While 36% of institutions own crypto globally, multinational financial services company Fidelity found that only 27% of the 441 U.S. institutions surveyed are exposed to crypto — although that’s up from 22% last year. Close to half of European institutions are long on virtual assets. Bitcoin (BTC) is the most popular cryptocurrency investment, with more than a quarter of respondents holding BTC, while 11% of firms own Ether (ETH). Fidelity commissioned Greenwich Associates to conduct the survey from …

While great attention has been paid to the recent enormous accumulation activities of the Grayscale’s Bitcoin Investment Trust, or BIT, the crypto fund manager has also been aggressively growing its Ether (ETH) stash. Speaking on a recent episode of the Coinscrum markets podcast, Grayscale’s director of investor relations, Ray Sharif-Askary, revealed that $110 million worth of ETH has been purchased by the firm during 2020 so far. Institutional investors diversify with ETH As such, Grayscale’s purchases are equal to 0.4% of Ethereum's total market cap in the past five months. Sharif-Askary noted that over 38% of Grayscale’s current clients now …

The latest report from Bloomberg reveals that the company expects Bitcoin (BTC) to retest the record highs from 2017, and may even go as high as $28,000. COVID-19 and institutions helping Bitcoin The report suggests that COVID-19 has accelerated Bitcoin’s maturation as an asset, showing its strength amid declining equities. In addition, it points to the ever-increasing appetite from institutional investors, and Grayscale, or GBTC, in particular, which has been consuming about 25% of the the new supply: “So far this year, its increasing AUM has consumed about 25% of new Bitcoin-mined coins vs. less than 10% in 2019. Our …

While the theater world has Waiting for Godot, the crypto sphere has its own drama: Waiting for the Institutional Investor. Recently, there have been some promising sightings. Grayscale Investments has been buying up Bitcoin (BTC) at a great rate in recent months. Indeed, since the May 11–12 rewards halving event, the fund has been accumulating BTC at a rate equivalent to 150% of all the new Bitcoin mined, Cointelegraph reported on Thursday. The firm now has $3.2 billion in assets under management, or AUM, in its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. Significantly, more than 90% of new inflows are from institutional players, …

Crypto fund manager Grayscale Investments is accumulating Bitcoin at a rate equivalent to 150% of the new coins created by miners since the May 11 block reward halving. According to data published by independent crypto researcher Kevin Rooke, Grayscale has added 18,910 BTC to its Bitcoin Investment Trust since the halving, while only 12,337 Bitcoins have been mined since May 11. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao reposted the chart, commenting: “There isn't enough new supply to go around, even for just one guy”. Grayscale absorbs BTC supply Last week, Rooke estimated that Grayscale had been buying Bitcoin at a rate equal …

Leading cryptocurrency fund manager Grayscale Investments explained some fundamental differences in the nature of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and Bitcoin (BTC). In a recent report, Grayscale suggests that CBDCs are an upgrade to the traditional digital payment infrastructure, while Bitcoin is an upgraded version of money itself. The document reads: “CBDCs are sometimes viewed as synonymous to, or as replacements for, digital currencies like Bitcoin, but they represent a meaningful departure from the decentralized protocols inherent to many cryptocurrencies. CBDCs attempt to upgrade payment infrastructure while Bitcoin is an attempt to upgrade money. If CBDCs gain traction, they may …

Both data and first-hand accounts from industry insiders indicates that an interest in Bitcoin (BTC) from institutional investors is accelerating at a rapid pace. This has led some to conclude that the “perfect storm” is about to hit the market. GBTC BTC Holding & Assets Under Management. Source: Cointelegraph, Grayscale. Price is not a factor Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, an exchange traded vehicle backed with Bitcoins, has been growing steadily in size over the past several years. However, in the last couple of months, its growth has begun to accelerate. Interestingly, the fluctuation in the price of the underlying …

Grayscale, a major digital asset management fund, has continued to grow this year, with its total assets under management, or AUM, hitting new highs. According to a May 19 tweet, Grayscale’s total AUM hit $3.8 billion, surging over 80% from $2.1 billion in May 2019. Bitcoin trust continues to gain momentum Grayscale’s Bitcoin (BTC) trust has continued to lead other cryptocurrencies in the fund, accounting for $3.36 billion, or 89% of the firm’s total AUM. The value of Grayscale’s Bitcoin investment trust surged 76% from last year’s $1.9 billion. At the same time, Grayscale’s Bitcoin trust’s share saw a small …

Square’s Cash App and asset manager Grayscale consumed over 50% of newly issued Bitcoin (BTC) in Q1 2020, a new report shows. Australian fund manager ListedReserve tweeted a calculation based on two gross measures: Grayscale’s inbound flows into its Bitcoin and Ethereum Trusts in Q1, which amount to $388.9 million, and Cash App’s $306 million revenue that came from Bitcoin sales during the same period. Those numbers were then divided by the total value of BTC mined in Q1 — $1.3 billion — based on the average BTC price of $8,068. The results showed that Grayscale and Cash App sold …

Mike McGlone, Bloomberg’s senior commodity strategist, in his latest Bitcoin report remains bullish on the “first-born” crypto and points to the advantage it holds over its hedging rival gold: “Unlike quasi currency brethren gold, higher prices won't be an incentive for more supply.” Is BItcoin’s supply inelastic? McGlone alludes to the fact that in most commodity markets, greater demand leads to higher prices, which in turn leads to greater production of the commodity and price stabilization. However, Bitcoin’s supply is controlled with code. Moreover, the rate of production of new Bitcoin will be halved next week. Although an argument could …