Grayscale has taken steps to register a new “mini” version of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If approved, the new Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and will operate independently from Grayscale’s main GBTC fund. Existing GBTC shareholders will receive shares of the new Bitcoin trust, as GBTC will also contribute an undisclosed amount of Bitcoin to the new trust. The purpose of this new trust is to provide GBTC investors with tax-free exposure to Bitcoin.
The filing was made on the same day that Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $71,415 on March 11, following Ether’s climb above the $4,000 mark for the first time since December 2021. In response to the all-time high, asset manager VanEck announced that it will waive all sponsor fees for the first $1.5 billion of funds in its Bitcoin Trust ETF until March 31, 2025.
The filing also comes after U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs achieved a new record of $10 billion in daily trading volume on March 5, surpassing the previous week’s record of $7.7 billion. However, the SEC’s lack of communication regarding Ether-based ETFs is seen as a negative sign for potential approval by May. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has downgraded the chances of an Ether ETF approval to just 35%.