Investors are drunk on bitcoin. As I write this, the Bitcoin Investment Trust (NASDAQOTH:GBTC) is trading at more than 125% more than its underlying bitcoin are worth.
Shares currently trade at $505 per share, valuing the underlying bitcoin at 125% more than they can be purchased for at a popular online exchange. Each share represents ownership of approximately 0.093 bitcoin.
• Motley Fool Issues Rare Triple-Buy Alert
The Securities and Exchange Commission carries some of the blame for Bitcoin Investment Trust's ridiculous premium to net asset value. Because it disapproved the Winklevoss' twins application to create a bitcoin ETF, the markets lack a proper exchange-traded vehicle for speculating on the price of bitcoin. Thus, eager speculators are willing to pay an extraordinary premium to get their hands on bitcoin through their brokerage accounts by trading the only vehicle to do so.
Bitcoin Investment Trust's premium to its underlying asset value has been a permanent fixture, but rarely has the premium been so high. In fact, as anticipation of the SEC's decision on a bitcoin ETF grew, the Bitcoin Investment Trust's premium collapsed to the single digits as investors feared a better alternative may soon come to market.
Bitcoin Investment Trust's premium nearly disappeared, only to soar higher after the SEC explained why it rejected the Bitcoin ETF. Photo: The Motley Fool
Of course, that never happened. The SEC later wrote that it disapproved the Winklevoss' bitcoin ETF on grounds that most markets for bitcoin are unregulated, and thus manipulation in unregulated bitcoin markets could affect the bitcoin ETF and the exchanges that list it.
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/heres-how-much-a-bitcoin-is-actually-worth/