The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the launch of the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust, a smaller version of Grayscale’s flagship Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). The mini trust will trade under the ticker symbol “BTC” and is seen as a spin-off from GBTC. GBTC shareholders will receive new shares of the mini trust as GBTC allocates a portion of its bitcoin holdings to this new entity. The SEC approval is based on the trust’s design to ensure fair disclosure of information necessary for accurate pricing, prevent trading in opaque conditions, protect non-public material information, and maintain fair and orderly markets for the trust’s shares. Despite the approval, Grayscale is still waiting for the registration statement for the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust to become effective. Management fees for the Mini Trust are significantly lower than those of GBTC.
Grayscale’s approval for the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust follows the SEC’s approval of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs and spot Ethereum ETFs. Grayscale has received approval for both spot Ethereum and spot Bitcoin ETFs, with existing shareholders receiving proportional distributions of shares in the new trusts. The move to approve Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs has garnered attention from investors and the market, with Grayscale offering investors the opportunity to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies with lower fees. Grayscale’s announcement of the launch of the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust, ticker: $ETH, allows investors to access Ethereum exposure in their portfolios with a 0% fee for the first six months. The flagship Ethereum fund, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, has also been listed on the NYSE.
Jersey City’s Pension Fund in New Jersey is planning to allocate a portion of its pension fund to crypto ETFs. The Employees Retirement System of Jersey City is working with the SEC to integrate its assets into Bitcoin ETFs, although specific details regarding the allocated percentage remain undisclosed. Mayor Fulop hinted that Jersey City’s approach will resemble Wisconsin’s state pension fund, which allocated 2% of its assets to Bitcoin ETFs earlier in the year. Cryptocurrency quantitative fund Kbit believes that there are greater returns within the digital asset space itself, as traditional hedge funds turn to strategies like the basis trade to capitalize on the recent surge of crypto ETFs. Kbit’s founder emphasized the importance of engaging with centralized crypto exchanges and trading various crypto instruments to access higher return opportunities in the crypto native markets.
