The cryptocurrency digital asset manager Grayscale Investments announced Wednesday that the firm’s total assets under management exceeded $60 billion for the first time, overtaking the AUM of the world’s biggest gold ETF, the SPDR Gold Shares, which currently sits at $58.3 billion.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) holds over 646,000 BTC, worth around $41.75 billion as of November 11.
GBTC is set to convert to a Bitcoin spot ETF, and the firm filed a formal application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in October. According to a report by Arcane Research, the SEC’s decision regarding the application is expected before July 2022.
Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein has recently said that this is more than a regulatory issue, it has become a political problem:
“In the last week, we actually saw bipartisan support for a Bitcoin spot ETF, with Reps. Emmer and Soto submitting a letter to chairman Gensler actually calling for the approval of a Bitcoin ETF and really wanting to ensure there’s a level playing field for investors as they choose between what could be a futures-based product for them or a spot-based product for them.”“If you’re comfortable with the derivatives […] and those futures contracts are deriving their pricing from the spot market itself, then you’re inherently also saying you’re comfortable with the spot market,” he concluded.