Grayscale Buys $240m in Bitcoin In Largest Capital Raise Week Ever

Grayscale, which runs the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), bought this week another 15,114 Bitcoin ($241 million). GBTC holds 481,711 Bitcoin, representing 62% of all Bitcoins in the ownership of publicly-traded companies.

In brief

  • Grayscale this week bought another 15,114 Bitcoin ($241 million), bringing the total number of Bitcoin the company owns to 506,000, or $8.1 billion. The company now manages a total of $10 billion worth of cryptocurrency.
  • Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which was created in 2013, is the company’s biggest trust. The total value of assets managed by Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) now exceeds $8.2 billion.
  • GBTC holds 481,711 Bitcoin, which corresponds to 62% of the 814,359 Bitcoins in the ownership of publicly-traded companies.

Grayscale, a digital assets management company, this week bought another 15,114 Bitcoin ($241 million), bringing the total number of Bitcoin the company owns to 506,000, or $8.1 billion. The company now manages a total of $10 billion worth of cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin (Image: AllanLau2000/Pixabay)
Bitcoin (Image: AllanLau2000/Pixabay)

Grayscale is among the biggest purchasers of Bitcoin. Its total investments comprise 2.29% of Bitcoin’s entire market cap.

Michael Sonnehnshein, Managing Director of Grayscale, declared this week the largest capital raise week “EVER,” after the firm raised $262 million. He said that on Thursday the company “raked in over $115 million in Bitcoin alone.”

Read more: Decrypt

Citibank Analyst Puts Bitcoin Price Prediction: ‘As High as $318,000’

A senior Citibank analyst has made a grandiose prediction for Bitcoin in a recent note to institutional clients—even drawing comparisons with the gold market of the 1970s.

In brief
– A senior Citibank executive predicts Bitcoin may reach the six-figure price mark in 2021.
– Bitcoin’s rise has been similar to gold in the 1970s, the executive said.
– The rise of state-backed digital currencies also shows a changing regime, one that supports the growth of Bitcoin, he added.

Tom Fitzpatrick, a managing director at US bank Citibank, has predicted Bitcoin’s price may reach over $318,000 in 2021 as per a note to institutional clients last week. He called the move amidst an uncertain macro environment and its similarities to the gold market of the 1970s.

Bitcoin Price Chart (Image: NikonD300/MaxPixel)

While long called “digital gold” by crypto fanatics, Bitcoin has so far been a poor store of value (due to its infamous price swings) or medium of transfer and has emerged as a trading vehicle instead. However, as per Fitzpatrick, such a backdrop is exactly what primes the asset as one that would sustain an eventual “long-term trend.”

Using technical analysis—forecasting of future asset prices using past examples, similarities, and data—Fitzpatrick put out the six-figure Bitcoin prediction if it followed a similar trajectory of the past seven years.

Read more: Decrypt

Here’s Why Stone Ridge Bought 10,000 Bitcoin ($162 Million)

The co-founder of Stone Ridge explains his fascination with Bitcoin and why his company bought $162 million worth of it.

In brief

  • Stone Ridge co-founder Robby Gutmann explained why the company recently bought 10,000 Bitcoin as part of its treasury reserve strategy.
  • He also touched on why people are fascinated with Bitcoin, describing it as “flavors of crypto nerd.”
  • Gutmann listed three observable trends, suggesting that investments in Bitcoin are poised to grow even further.

In mid-October, Stone Ridge Holdings Group, an asset management company with $10 billion worth of assets under its belt, revealed that it had bought 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC), currently worth over $162 million, as part of its treasury reserve strategy.

Bitcoin (Image: Antana/CCBY-SA2)
Bitcoin (Image: Antana/CCBY-SA2)

During The Breakdown podcast today, Stone Ridge co-founder Robby Gutmann shed some light on factors that led to this decision.

The fragility of fiat systems

Speaking about Stone Ridge’s long journey to Bitcoin, he started on a personal level. According to Gutmann, there are “three flavors of crypto nerd”—and he can relate to all of them.

Read more: Decrypt