Jun. 21, 2022
Dear SEC, I am a 65 year old retiree from The Netherlands and I am in favour of approving the Form 19b-4 that NYSE Arca filed with you to convert Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTCQX: GBTC) – the world’s largest publicly traded crypto asset fund, with approximately $30 billion in AUM, hundreds of millions in daily trading volume, more than 850,000 investors, holding approximately 3.4% of all Bitcoins outstanding – into a Bitcoin Spot ETF. This year, GBTC has traded at an approximately 25% discount to its NAV, which means the price of GBTC is less than the price of its underlying assets, Bitcoin. With approximately $30 billion in AUM, that results in approximately $7.5 billion of trapped value from existing U.S. investors. Clearly, this is not only in the interest of US investors. Investors from all over the world have an interest in Bitcoin and other crypto currencies. As far as I can see, there is no rationale whatsoever to allow Futures ETFs and allow ETFs for shorting bitcoin, but not allow any Spot ETF. It is hard to see which honest objectives are being served by this incomplete and unbalanced mix of instruments. Frankly, it makes no sense. Sincerely, Hans van Dijk