Grayscale Halts New Investments in GBTC After Trading at 15% Below Bitcoin

Digital assets management firm Grayscale has halted inflows to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) after the fund traded at a 15% discount to the price of the bitcoin (BTC, +2.98%) the trust holds.

Rocked by the number of alternative bitcoin trusts and Canadian bitcoin exchange-traded funds, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has been trading below the price of bitcoin for several weeks. Its sibling, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, has also flipped into negative territory. Grayscale is owned by Digital Currency Group, the parent company of CoinDesk.

DCG announced earlier today that it would buy up to $250 million in GBTC shares. Repurchasing shares is a common tool used by companies seeking to increase the price of those shares by simultaneously creating demand while decreasing the number of shares outstanding.  Yesterday, CoinDesk revealed Grayscale is hiring nine specialists in the ETF space, possibly signaling a pivot in its fund’s business model.