Apparently Grayscale is luring into their shares also some investors that should be able to independently gain exposure to bitcoin:
BlockFi Acquires a 5% Stake in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), Becomes a Top Shareholder
BlockFi, the crypto lending focused firm, has invested in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), becoming one of the biggest shareholders. According to a filing made with the U.S Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), the firm purchased 5.07% of the GBTC Trust. Notably, companies in the U.S are required to report through form 13G if they own more than 5% in another firm.
The filing further reveals that the shares acquired by BlockFi translate to 24,235,578 of the GBTC Trust. Going by the latest Grayscale annual filings, this value is roughly 24,235.578 Bitcoins, given that every share is priced at 0.0001 BTC. As per the prevailing crypto market prices, the BlockFi investment in GBTC is roughly $328 million.
Ah! Someone explain me why should BlocKFi invest in Grayscale for any other reason than playing the NAV-Stock Market arbitrage on the back of the retail investors.
Give your bitcoin to Grayscale and in-kind buy the shares in the primary market (without touching a single USD). Then sell a future on the market. Wait six months, sell the shares, get your Bitcoin Back and buy back the futures.
You have just locked in a juicy 20% net profit on your bitcoins. Free risk.
GBTC is more than happy for this, as in the meanwhile they got a free marketing campaign (“BlocKFi just bought 5% of GBTC! That must be a super good investment! Let’s buy some too!”) and above all, 1% management fee. Again, net of risks.
Also, please tell the journalist to read this thread, so that he can do the proper math and exactly know how many BTC BlocKFi bought.
The filing was posted on October 15, the day after GBTC reopened the share issuance after a brief hiatus. That day they sold a little bit more than 7 millions shares. So BlocKFi surely was already long GBTC, but that last buy triggered the 5% reporting threshold.