May. 10, 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. As a retail investor and saver, it makes no sense to me that the SEC will allow futures based products that bet on the future price of Bitcoin and disallow a spot product that simply allows the ETF to buy and hold. One is based on pure speculation. The other is based on saving in a pure monetary asset that lacks counter-party risk. This appears to be a deliberate attempt to slow Bitcoin adoption at the expense of retail holders and savers. This is absolutely contrary to the SEC’s mandate around investor protection. Spot products exist in Canada and Europe. Withholding this type of access and allowing the current GBTC trust to trade at a massive discount to NAV as a by product makes the motives and intentions of the SEC dubious and an abdication of your mandate. Please approve the spot conversion with haste, in keeping with both your mandate and the precedent of approving futures ETFs under both the 33 and 40 acts. Sincerely, Tim Bantle