TL; DR Breakdown
- Grayscale Investments petitions SEC to change GBTC into an ETF.
- Approval will offer investors more opportunities for exposure to Bitcoin.
Grayscale Investments recently announced that it had plans in motion to change the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a Bitcoin spot. The asset manager elaborated the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) already had the motion form and that it had collaborated with NYSE Arca to file it.
Grayscale and NYSE filed the motion just after the first Bitcoin futures went live on NYSE. ProShares started trading publicly in NYSE under ticker BITO, a significant milestone for the crypto industry.
Speaking on the petition, the Global Head of ETFs, Dave LaValle, argued that it only made sense for regulators to come around Exchange Traded Funds that gave some exposure to spot prices of particular digital assets, now that ETF futures were acceptable.
Conversion crucial to Grayscale’s growth
The GBTC is currently worth $38 billion. It currently holds about 3.5 % of the King coin in circulation and is thus the largest crypto investment vehicle globally.
According to the Grayscale Investments CEO, Michael Sonnenshein, converting into an ETF is crucial in GBTC’s product cycle. The spot filling will open up a 240-day review. However, the team expects SEC’s decision of either approval or disapproval much earlier than at the end of the review period.
What next for stakeholders?
Should the financial regulator approve the conversion, shareholders of GBTC will not need to do anything. Instead, the shares will automatically convert into those of the ETF.
Approval for the conversion from the SEC will be good news to investors. Bitcoin will become more familiar as an Exchange Traded Fund, giving investors a chance to choose their Bitcoin exposure.
As everyone awaits SEC’s decision, it is worth mentioning that few Bitcoin holders advocate for a spot ETF. However, the approval will be the determinant for whether investors have some Bitcoin exposure.
