Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Doubles in Dollar Value

This bodes well for Bitcoin as it continues to hold value during the U.S. dollar’s devaluation. The number of bitcoins held in the GBTC fund increased from 261,192 to nearly 387,000, an increase equal to almost $1.5 billion in today’s prices. The Trust also saw a net increase gain on investment of $817 million in Q2 2020.

Growing, Growing, Not Gone

On Monday, Grayscale launched national television ads in the United States. The campaign tells investors it’s, “time for digital currency.” This PR push may contribute to sustained higher prices of the alpha crypto. In May, Grayscale’s performance reports showed that it was buying massive amounts of Bitcoin. Grayscale CEO and founder Barry Silbert reacted to a tweet, saying “shh”. This likely indicates that the company has no plans to stop anytime soon. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Assets Under Management (AUM) are $4.7 billion, about 2.2% of all bitcoin according to the latest USD market cap figures. The firm’s total AUM has increased by $200 million in six days. Earlier this week, Grayscale tweeted that its total AUM was over $5.5 billion. Yesterday, it tweeted its total AUM to be about $5.7 billion.

08/11/20 UPDATE: Net Assets Under Management, Holdings per Share, and Market Price per Share for our Investment Products.

Total AUM: $5.7 billion$BTC $BCH $ETH $ETC $ZEN $LTC $XLM $XRP $ZEC pic.twitter.com/FIIMhzqWuo

— Grayscale (@Grayscale) August 11, 2020

Driving Adoption

Grayscale is pushing to give Bitcoin a human face. This comes in the wake of crypto market distrust stemming from uncertainty and scams. The firm achieves this by adopting as much regulation as possible. Earlier this year, Grayscale registered its Bitcoin Trust with the SEC, the first crypto-based entity to do so. Since the Trust allows users to buy BTC over traditional brokerage markets, it’s more easily accessible, and trustworthy, to traditional investors. Then a few weeks ago, they filed a form 10 for the Ethereum trust. This is the first major push to bring altcoins to the masses, and with Ethreum’s popularity skyrocketing via DeFi, it is likely a smart move. If the filing is accepted, it will half the statutory holding period. This should increase liquidity and be more attractive to investors.

Dollar Down

Despite some improvement in recent days, the dollar is weak, thanks largely to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s stimulus actions. The fed has printed over $1 trillion dollars in recent months. With U.S. GDP around $20 trillion, this represented 5% of the country’s value. In contrast, bitcoin has increased 400% this year since the lows, with negligible inflation from block rewards. Despite strong markets, U.S. GDP dropped some 30% in 2020. As a result, Bitcoin truly looks like an attractive store of value.