A deeper look at Grayscale’s spin-off ETF launches, crypto outlook

The low-cost sibling to Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust launched Wednesday, marking a new step in the firm’s strategy to attract investors with diverse product priorities.

By adding another US spot bitcoin ETF to the mix, the crypto-focused asset manager now has two products “on different parts of the spectrum,” Grayscale managing director John Hoffman told Blockworks in an interview.

Sporting ticker BTC on NYSE Arca, the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust’s day-one net inflows totaled $18 million, Farside Investors data shows.

Though by no means a standout figure in a category that has seen $17.7 billion of net inflows in six-plus months, it nearly matched the $21 million brought in by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). All other US spot BTC funds notched zero or negative flows Wednesday.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) converted to an ETF when the first such US funds hit the market in January. That product, with a highest-in-category 1.5% fee has endured $18.8 billion of net outflows since then.

The firm’s Bitcoin Mini Trust was an attempt to offer a lower-cost option (at 0.15%). Its initial seeding came from distributing 10% of GBTC’s underlying Bitcoin to BTC — meaning the new ETF started with roughly $1.7 billion.

Grayscale’s BTC launch came eight days after the firm launched its Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH). It offered the same 0.15% fee and a similar relationship to the asset manager’s flagship Ethereum Trust (ETHE).

While ETHE has watched about $2 billion of investor capital exit the fund in its first seven trading days as an ETF, Grayscale’s Ethereum Mini Trust has reeled in $201 million of net inflows.

Hoffman noted that, in addition to the Grayscale Mini Trusts carrying the lowest fees in their respective segments, the ultra-low share prices make them highly accessible for retail investors.

“Literally you can get exposure to bitcoin and ethereum for less than $10 combined now that we have BTC and ETH,” the executive added.

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On the flip side, legacy products GBTC and ETHE trade at a significantly higher share price. They boast a longer track record and operating history, as well as a larger asset base and more shareholders.

“Our experience with ETFs and our experience with clients shows us that investors have different priorities,” he said. “We really want to meet them where they are.”

Keep reading for more excerpts from Blockworks’ interview with Hoffman:

Blockworks: Despite launching cheaper spin-offs of its flagship bitcoin and ether offerings, has Grayscale considered dropping its fees on GBTC and ETHE (1.5% and 2.5%, respectively)?

Hoffman: I draw a parallel to the automobile industry. The manufacturers will build trucks, sedans, sports cars, EVs. Those all provide different options and different benefits.

One of the things we see as well is sophisticated investors, in many instances, are looking at far more than the management fee. They’re actually looking at what we call the total cost of ownership.

GBTC, for example, has tracked net asset value better than the other spot bitcoin ETFs. Said another way, its premium and its discount has been less than the competitor products, and that’s part of the total cost of ownership.

Ultimately, we have investors who are buying this long, selling it short, or lending it. … The point is there’s a lot more that meets the eye here than management fee.

We think it’s important to have two capabilities that line up on different parts of the spectrum.

Blockworks: With BTC launching more than six months after the first US spot bitcoin funds, how might Grayscale look to catch up, from an asset perspective, to competing products by BlackRock, Fidelity and others?

Hoffman: What’s unique about Grayscale relative to the competitive environment is we are a crypto-focused investment management firm with deep expertise in the category. We’ve been doing this for over a decade.

That manifests in our product, but also in research and all the other kinds of support we can provide to clients. So we think we’re actually — despite being later to the market — incredibly well-positioned to help clients achieve their financial outcomes through the crypto space.

If you look at GBTC … it obviously opened up the market to bitcoin investing. ETHE did the same. BTC and ETH are going to make it very accessible, and we continue to build products way out on the curve, if you will, for things that will be commonplace in 10 and 15 years.

So we don’t necessarily think about this in terms of the asset raise. We think about it in terms of how we can help clients achieve outsized returns and ultimately get closer to financial freedom.

Blockworks: How do you evaluate the debut of US spot ETH ETFs and the category’s initial combined net outflows of $484 million, driven by ETHE?

Hoffman: If you zoom out, these Ethereum ETF products that came to market a little over a week ago are one of the most successful ETF launches in the history of the US market — looking at volume, AUM, net new assets.

If we look at where [the industry] is from an adoption perspective of crypto as a technology, we believe we’re in the very, very early days of this. It’s a $2.5 trillion space and we think it’s going to go to $10 trillion. We are playing the long game.

Fifty-two million Americans own crypto. On a global basis it’s 2% to 3% penetration. We think that those numbers are only going to accelerate, so we want to be on the forefront of educating clients about this disruptive innovation and help them navigate that.

Blockworks: What types of ETFs might Grayscale look to bring to market next?

Hoffman: We continue to push the envelope on innovation, and I think this [BTC] spin-off was an example of an innovative way to come to market.

Obviously there’s precedent now for spot ethereum and spot bitcoin. I think you’ll continue to see more and more capability make its way into the ETF wrapper as we increasingly get regulatory clarity around this asset class.

Blockworks: More broadly, what might you be expecting to see play out in crypto markets for the remainder of the year?

Hoffman: I’m not in the best position to pontificate on price action in the near-term.

But longer term, with ETF capability coming to market, you’ve effectively connected the piping to $100 trillion of capital here in the US and $750 trillion of capital globally [by] reducing the frictions to gain exposure to both [ether] and bitcoin.

We know that these technologies grow in an exponential fashion — non-linear — and we think more is going to happen in the next three years than has happened in the prior 15 years.

This interview was edited for clarity and brevity.

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