The world’s leading digital asset manager Grayscale recently had a private meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The purpose of the meeting centered on the firm’s persuasion for the regulator’s approval to convert its flagship fund into an ETF.
The Approval Could Unlock $8 Billion In Value For Investors
Grayscale says if the SEC is convinced and grants its wish, it will increase the access to Bitcoin and unlock up to $8 billion in value for investors.
The trust has been trading at a discount of 25% of the price of its underlying asset since early 2021. But the discount is most likely going to disappear after conversion, the company noted. Grayscale’s GBTC holds about 3.4% of the world’s Bitcoins and manages more than 850,000 US accounts.
The fund has more than $30 billion worth of crypto assets before the recent cryptocurrency market correction brought it down to $20.1 billion.
Grayscale feels the SEC is being one-sided by deciding to approve Bitcoin futures ETFs while turning their backs against spot Bitcoin ETFs.
“The SEC is discriminating against issuers by approving Bitcoin futures ETFs and denying bitcoin spot ETFs,” Grayscale stated.
According to Grayscale, one is not riskier than the other since both markets closely track each other and are both affected by the underlying price of Bitcoin.
Grayscale Sets To Expand Into Europe
After dominating the Americas, Grayscale has set its sight on Europe. The fund manager has already had a series of meetings with potential partners to enable it to achieve its expansion goals in Europe.
Chief Executive Officer of Grayscale, Michael Sonnenshein, stated that the company has researched and met with different potential partners and different organizations to find out the best approach toward the expansion.
However, in a recent interview with the Financial News, he expressed concerns that there is a ‘double standard’ in the crypto regulation, with some asset classes being favored over others. According to Sonnenshein, it’s surprising that the SEC has shown a high comfort level with futures ETFs but still rejects spot ETF proposals.
