Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is the first digital currency investment vehicle to attain the status of a Securities and Exchange Commission reporting company, Grayscale Investments said Tuesday.
New York-based Grayscale Investments, the world's largest digital asset manager, which offers 10 cryptocurrency investment products to institutional and accredited investors — four of which trade publicly and are also available to all investors — publicly filed a registration statement with the SEC on behalf of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust in November.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is the firm's largest investment vehicle, with $2.4 billion in assets as of Jan. 17.
The trust's shares are now registered with the SEC. "As many institutions restrict investments in instruments that are not registered with the SEC, a broader set of investors may now begin to consider the trust accordingly," Grayscale said in a statement.
Michael Sonnenshein, managing director at Grayscale, said in an email that Grayscale voluntarily pursued this designation and will continue to work within existing regulatory frameworks.
"Grayscale Bitcoin Trust becoming an SEC reporting company marks an incredible milestone for the trust, Grayscale as an asset manager, and the digital currency industry as a whole," he said. "Today's announcement should signal to investors that our regulators are willing to engage with our products and our space as a whole. Even though it will require more rigorous reporting standards, it is a new level of transparency and reporting that we believe investors deserve."
The trust will now file its quarterly and annual reports, as well as audited financial statements, as 10-Qs and 10-Ks with the SEC.
The trust has a private placement, which is offered on a periodic basis throughout the year to accredited investors and is currently open. Accredited investors who own shares in the private placement will now have an earlier liquidity opportunity, as the statutory holding period will be reduced to six months from 12 months.
