May. 07, 2022
Dear SEC, First off, thank you for your time and interest in willing to hear from the public on approving a spot bitcoin ETF in addition to the futures based ETF (BITO) that is already approved. 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. As a retail investor looking to allocate a portion of my retirement savings in bitcoin denominated assets I feel as though the team at Grayscale has a proven history of sound custodial management considering their significant ownership of outstanding bitcoin and market cap of the GBTC trust. The fact that their parent company Digital Currency Group owns Foundry, a bitcoin mining operation, allows them to continually mine bitcoin as the trust grows in order to maintain a physically backed ETF product (in an effort to avoid market manipulation). The concept of "virgin coins," newly mined from Foundry (gaining scale and supporting hash rate as I type) also ensures the coins acquired by Grayscales parent are not downstream from nefarious "black market" transactions, which in my opinion bodes well towards popular ESG narratives that various investors are demanding. Finally, as a retail participant looking to own digital assets, I feel utilizing Grayscale products affords me the best opportunity to have robust custody management, while providing the ability to transparently report any tax obligations to the IRS in lieu of owning a personal wallet where the tax reporting is cumbersome and confusing to not only me, but a lot of other US citizens. I would like to see US citizens be able to hold a spot bitcoin ETF, be taxed appropriately, and eliminate concern over controlling my own keys. Again, thank you for your time and curiosity in this endeavor. Sincerely, Patrick Lahey