Feb. 24, 2022
Gary and team, I appreciate your seeking my opinion on the conversion of GBTC to an ETF. Two points I want to make and anxiously await response. 1) SEC's main opposition to a spot Bitcoin ETF is the potential for market manipulation and volatility in the crypto markets. However, the futures ETF's that were just approved are just as susceptible to theoretical manipulation in the underlying crypto markets. I don't understand allowing futures trading or a futures-based ETF but not approving a spot ETF. 2) GBTC which was already approved to be an SEC reporting company is already susceptible to crypto spot market prices, but also manipulation of the GBTC premium / discount given that the closed-end trust doesn't equalize price to NAV. Conversion of GBTC to an ETF would eliminate one of those two risks and be safer for investors than the current situation, not riskier. 3) The other risk to GBTC is hacking / theft of assets. However this risk exists as a closed-end fund just as it would as an ETF. Also many publicly traded companies (miners, coinbase) are susceptible to the same risk.