May. 06, 2022
Dear SEC, As a current GBTC shareholder, I'm writing to support the conversion of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (symbol: GBTC), which is currently the world's largest Bitcoin fund, to the first Spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States. GBTC is the world’s largest publicly-traded cryptocurrency fund, with hundreds of millions in daily trading volume. It holds approximately 3.4% of all Bitcoins outstanding, and is held by more than 850,000 investors, like me. In the past you have been able to approve futures-backed Bitcoin ETFs, yet continue to reject any applications for a Bitcoin ETF. As an investor in the crypto currency asset class, I would very much like to have exposure to the same underlying asset, Bitcoin—from which both vehicles derive their prices. As investors, we should be able to choose if we’d like direct or futures-based exposure to that asset. Furthermore, the discount to NAV in GBTC has been around 25%, on average, this year. This means that the price of GBTC is less than the price of Bitcoin, the asset itself. Given that GBTC has about $30bn in AUM, existing shareholders like me are experiencing a destruction of value of around $7.5 billion. By not approving this conversion, you are not protecting me, the investor – the very person you were appointed to protect. I'm sure that crypto exchange platforms are arguing against this conversion, but are they after protecting the investor or just themselves? Your job is to protect the investor. Investors deserve to invest in this asset directly without having to use other platforms that currently have a stranglehold on Bitcoin's spot market. I’m writing from Maryland, with gratitude for the opportunity to express my view to you and with the hope and greatest expectation that you will approve this conversion and protect the interest of investors, like me. Regards, Fernando Anazco