THE world’s largest cryptocurrency investment vehicle saw a net inflow of investor money for the first time since US exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holding the digital asset were allowed in January.
The US$18.1 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, received about US$63 million on May 3, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The ETF has seen net outflows of about US$17.4 billion since it was converted from a trust.
Despite leading the push to win approval from US regulators through a legal challenge, investors appear to have shifted assets from GBTC into new, lower cost funds offered by companies such as BlackRock and Fidelity. GBTC charges a management fee at 1.5 per cent, with the bulk of its peers charging below 0.3 per cent.
“Now that the tide has turned from outflows to inflows, I think moving forward it’s gonna be harder to predict what direction the flows will go,” said Amrita Nandakumar, president of Vident Investment Advisory. “I will be curious to see how closely that’s tied to the price to Bitcoin or how closely it’s tied to what other issuers of Bitcoin ETFs do to try to attract Grayscale investors.”
A spokesperson for Grayscale did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Grayscale has also filed plans for a Bitcoin Mini Trust, which would be physically backed by the cryptocurrency and trade under the ticker BTC. If approved, the ETF would be seeded with an unspecified percentage of the assets in GBTC.
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Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein was asked in April on Bloomberg Television when fees on GBTC might come down, and in response, he pointed to the firm’s filing for the “mini” version of the ETF. BLOOMBERG
