The crypto investment fund facilitates some of the biggest crypto traders for institutional clients. And its ETH purchases are surging.
Stacking ETH
Crypto investment fund Grayscale picked up over 47,000 ETH yesterday, data from filings showed. The fund additionally purchased over 12,300 Litecoin.
At the moment, Grayscale is one of the only regulated ways for accredited investors in the US to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies. This is made possible via its “Trust” product—a financial instrument that holds a certain amount of spot crypto per share that is offered to clients. This can either be subscribed to or is traded on the over-the-counter market.
This means that every time investors purchase the “Trust” shares on an exchange or subscribe to it, Grayscale has to mandatorily purchase spot crypto on the open market in order to fully back its publicly traded offering.
High demand yesterday for Ethereum led Grayscale to purchase over 47,000 ETH. At press time, this is valued at over $76 million (ETH trades at $1,617), with analysts calling for the asset to reach over $2,000 later this week, and as high as $10,000 later this year.
BREAKING: Grayscale adds 47,000 $ETH worth $76.7 million over the past 24 hours
Chart: @bybt_com pic.twitter.com/pWhjtoTLhq
— Bloqport (@Bloqport) February 3, 2021
Ethereum investor Ryan Sean Adams remarked on the purchases in a tweet. “Public companies staking ETH, there’s $4.5b ETH in Grayscale, and ETH futures launch on the CME Monday,” he said, adding:
“The institutions are buying ETH. And they’re just getting started.”
Public companies staking ETH, there’s $4.5b ETH in Grayscale, and ETH futures launch on the CME Monday.
Yes.
The institutions are buying ETH.
And they’re just getting started.
— Ryan Sean Adams – rsa.eth ? (@RyanSAdams) February 3, 2021
How Grayscale values Ethereum
In a report yesterday, Grayscale also released its thesis on Ethereum. It saw Phil Bonello, the firm’s director of research, and other analysts explore three aspects to value the asset: ETH as money, ETH as a consumable community, and ETH as a cash-generating asset.
ETH! We @Grayscale are frequently asked how to think about the investment case and valuation framework for $ETH. Today seems like a great day to share our framework! https://t.co/Gt4LSTJGZe
— Phil Bonello (@PhilJBonello) February 3, 2021
The report is only available to accredited investors and follows on the back of a similar report for Bitcoin released in the past year. That one explored Bitcoin as a currency, a store-of-value, and an alternative to gold.
Meanwhile, despite the institutional rush for Ethereum, the asset lags far behind Bitcoin in terms of the assets under management at Grayscale. As of today, the firm locks over $23 billion worth of Bitcoin compared to just $4 billion worth of Ethereum. There’s another $96 million locked up in the Trust of Ethereum Classic, the original Ethereum chain.
02/03/21 UPDATE: Net Assets Under Management, Holdings per Share, and Market Price per Share for our Investment Products.
Total AUM: $29.2 billion$BTC $BCH $ETH $ETC $ZEN $LTC $XLM $ZEC pic.twitter.com/vaErnWV03F
— Grayscale (@Grayscale) February 3, 2021
But with the institutions coming quick, the list may look different a few months from now.
The post Institutional crypto fund Grayscale purchases 47,000 ETH in a single day appeared first on CryptoSlate.
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