Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares rose 11% on June 20 to $16.85 and narrowed the discount to net asset value (NAV) to 33.45% — its year-to-date high, according to YCharts facts.
Referring to CryptoQuant data, Wu Blockchain reported that the increase coincided with a record trading volume of $10.24 million – the highest since November 22, 2022.
About the year-to-date statistics, a CryptoSlate Insight reported that GBTC is up 96%.
BlackRock’s ETF filing sparks interest in GBTC
The renewed optimism surrounding GBTC stocks has been linked to BlackRock’s application for a Bitcoin spot ETF. Wu pointed out that news of BlackRock’s filing helped GBTC shares rise more than 25%.
Unconfirmed rumors also suggested that Fidelity Investment was considering a buyout of Grayscale. Fidelity is the third largest asset manager in the world, with $4.24 trillion under management.
A partner at Syz Capital, Richard Byworth, mention that a Fidelity offer for GBTC would “probably quickly correct the discount to zero”.
Grayscale’s attempt to convert GBTC into an ETF
Like several other companies, Grayscale has applied for the creation of a spot Bitcoin ETF for several years, but has been repeatedly rejected by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to the Commission, these applications were rejected because they failed to comply with certain sections of the Securities Exchange Act and were not intended to prevent fraud and market manipulation or to protect investors and the public interest.
However, these repeated rejections led Grayscale to file a lawsuit against the SEC, arguing that a spot ETF was no different from a futures ETF, which the SEC had previously approved. According to Grayscale, both spot and futures ETFs depend on the price of Bitcoin and thus carry the same level of risk no matter where they are traded.
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