Quote from: mcun2000 on Today at 04:05:40 PM

As a GBTC shareholder, I just received an email from grayscale stating their intention to convert to an ETF. Maybe they are really serious about turning the trust into an ETF. The big question then is what will their fee be when it does happen.

Quote

In case you missed it, we released a communication today regarding Grayscale’s intentions for a Bitcoin
ETF (https://go.grayscale.co/e/652383/for-a-bitcoin-etf-b11e4faf4c05/bnbhz/239595549?h=VQssTGl7o1CsRdCXWN9pgUulF29V5XvSrzO16OVrCuQ) and our initiative to convert Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a Bitcoin ETF.

As a summary, this reiterates that:

We are 100% committed to converting GBTC into an ETF, as well as bringing all of our other products through the full lifecycle of our business model, iterated below, when permissible.
The timing will be driven by the regulatory environment.
When GBTC converts to an ETF, shareholders of publicly-traded GBTC shares will not need to take action and the management fee will be reduced accordingly.

For more information, we invite you to read the blog post, also referenced in the 8-K we filed today.

All the best,
Grayscale Investor Relations Team

Well one thing is "being serious" about converting GBTC into an ETF - but another thing is getting approval - which has been being requested by a variety of companies since about 2014-ish - starting with the Winklevoss petition and many subsequent denials.. .

sure, maybe "this time is different", and there is a certain amount of arrogance (or is it telegraphing of confidence?) in regards to Grayscale obtaining approval amongst some other possible equal if NOT some superior competitors - which yeah, some of the latest speculations have seemed to suggest that the US govt has waited so damned long in making any kind of approval that they would likely be forced into approving several ETFs at once and letting the various ETFs providers fight it out (again assuming that Grayscale might have some insight into some kind of pending approval(s) in the ETF direction in the USA).

We surely live in interesting times no matter the direction of ETF approvals in the USA, whether it is: 1) ongoing delays in approval (which likely is going to cause more and more traction of BTC ETF products in other countries - which surely would be an uncomfortable USA position), 2) denial of BTC (and presumably providing some kind of rationale that makes sense - which likely leads to similar problematic situation as described in scenario 1 above), or 3) approval of one or more ETF(s)... (another uncomfortable position in terms of how much control the US Govt might have in terms of the signal that such an approval would give - including likely outrageous BTC price appreciation - which the US Govt is NOT very comfortable with such a scenario, either).

No matter what happens, it seems, US Govt is likely uncomfortable with this BTC asset class that is continuing to grow into some kind of asset class that cannot be kept off the radar.