Feb. 22, 2022
Dear SEC, I’m writing to support the conversion of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (Symbol: GBTC), currently the world’s largest Bitcoin fund, to the first Spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States. The Trust trades at a massive discount to NAV. This harms investors like myself and others who hold it in their IRAs. Over the decades investors are not protected by the SEC as much as they once were. Sarbanes Oxley means companies don't go public as quickly as they once did due to onerous compliance costs. Small investors cannot invest in private equity and venture capital and thus miss out on that opportunity for wealth creation. Retail investors can buy BTC on Coinbase and other regulated entities in the US. Custody is now firmly in place. ETFs and ETPs exist outside the US. A BTC ETF will allow retail investors to participate in the fastest and most democratized new industry in the global economy. Please stop playing politics. Please allow GBTC to convert to an ETF. I will only be voting for representatives going forward who make this their primary issue. BTC will become the neutral reserve asset in the coming decades. The U.S. needs to be at the forefront of this innovation so that we as a country can accrue the benefits. CBDCs will lead us down the path of being a centralized, authoritarian state, like China. Is that what the people inside the SEC want? I didn't vote for that. Sincerely, Luke Squires