• GBTC traded at a 2.7% premium to net asset value Friday, down from 40% last month

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (ticker GBTC) premium to net asset value fell to 2.7% Friday, the lowest rate in years. The trust traded at a 40% premium to Bitcoin in December 2020. 

Investors that purchased GBTC last month at a 40% premium to Bitcoin are seeing 5% returns from the trust today, but Bitcoin is up 36%. 

GBTC fell around 10% Thursday, mirroring Bitcoin’s 9% fall, before rising slightly Friday to trade at $33.24. The largest digital currency was also up on Friday, rising to above $32,000 after dipping below $30,000 earlier in the week for the first time since December 2020. 

The discrepancy has many looking toward a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which would not trade at a premium, but the Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to approve crypto ETFs. 

“It seems incongruent that the SEC is allowing products such as triple-levered natural gas ETPs and leveraged FAANG ETNs, cannabis ETFs, and I could go on,” said Nate Geraci, president of investment-advisory firm the ETF Store. “The SEC is allowing all of these products on the market, but not a Bitcoin ETF, which actually would have been one of the top performing ETFs last year.” 

  • Blockworks
    Senior Reporter
    Casey Wagner is a New York-based business journalist covering regulation, legislation, digital asset investment firms, market structure, central banks and governments, and CBDCs. Prior to joining Blockworks, she reported on markets at Bloomberg News. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Media Studies. Contact Casey via email at [email protected]