Grayscale Investments Pursues SEC Registration For Its Bitcoin Trust

The crypto news today show reports from November 19 when Grayscale Investments, a subsidiary of the Digital Currency Group and the world’s largest digital asset manager officially filed a voluntary registration statement on Form 10 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If successful, the move in which Grayscale Investments pursues SEC registration would result in the trust acquiring the status of the SEC reporting company.

Even more importantly, Grayscale will be the first cryptocurrency investment instrument with official SEC registration. The trust’s shares would be registered according to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

As Grayscale Investment pursues SEC registration, the firm also expects the development to broaden the product’s investor base and provide the one holding the trust’s shares with better transparency and liquidity.

Still, the digital asset management company also emphasized that it is seeking neither an exchange-traded fund (ETF) status nor a listing on any national securities exchange. This leads many to wonder what would the SEC’s approval mean for Grayscale and its Bitcoin Trust (and the wider crypto industry).

As experts agree, a solution like this would facilitate the Bitcoin exposure for accredited investors. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) currently has shares which are publicly traded on the over-the-counter market OTCQX and GBTC is currently listed under the Alternative Reporting Standard which does not require any registration with the SEC.

As Grayscale Investment pursues the new SEC registration, analysts jumped in to review the position of the fund.  One of them was Alexander Blum, who is the COO of the fintech firm Two Prime. As he said:

“If its Form 10 filing is approved and it becomes an SEC registered reporting company, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust will continue its incremental maturation into a mainstream investment vehicle with the oversight and heightened reporting requirements that come with that. However, I wouldn’t expect a massive influx of new funds or listing on new exchanges, but continued, steady growth.”

Another analyst and research partner named Dmitriy Berenzon said that GBTC’s registration will spark an industry-wide trend towards increased transparency.

“My hope is that Grayscale’s move will push more crypto companies to voluntarily disclose more comprehensive information on a more consistent basis. For example, while the Tezos Foundation publishes detailed biannual updates and the Ethereum Foundation publishes high-level quarterly updates, I’m looking forward to a time when we see detailed quarterly reports from all crypto asset-related foundations,” he noted.