What is Grayscale?
Grayscale Investments is an American digital asset investment management company and a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group. Founded in 2013, it is registered in New York. Grayscale manages cryptocurrency trusts, legal structures that hold various digital assets. Trust shares trade on stock and over-the-counter markets, allowing clients to invest in cryptocurrencies indirectly rather than directly.
Grayscale trust holdings
| Symbol | Holdings | Holdings ($) | Market Price | Holdings Price | Premium Rate | Chg 24H | Chg 7D | Chg 30D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 BTC | 190.62K | 17.95B | $74.32 | $74.27 | -0.07% | -7.83 | 498.31 | -3247.20 |
 ETH | 2.63M | 4.76B | $29.89 | $29.71 | -0.60% | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
 ETC | 11.18M | 186.55M | $12.57 | $6.76 | -46.22% | 0.00 | 0.00 | -16090.49 |
 LTC | 2.03M | 171.42M | $6.55 | $6.45 | -1.53% | 0.00 | 0.00 | -2919.95 |
 BCH | 394.17K | 145.35M | $2.89 | $2.94 | 1.73% | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3192.94 |
 SOL | 530.38K | 79.10M | $10.06 | $11.29 | 12.23% | 0.00 | 0.00 | -763.49 |
 XLM | 118.09M | 32.19M | $21.76 | $20.00 | -8.09% | 0.00 | 0.00 | -169977.06 |
 LINK | 1.20M | 17.49M | $11.85 | $35.75 | 201.69% | 0.00 | 0.00 | 24365.56 |
 ZEC | 394.62K | 14.18M | $2.61 | $3.03 | 16.09% | 0.00 | 0.00 | -568.01 |
 MANA | 29.66M | 9.32M | $2.74 | $3.30 | 20.44% | 0.00 | 0.00 | -42697.74 |
 ZEN | 966.07K | 8.62M | $0.73 | $1.93 | 164.38% | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11675.25 |
 FIL | 1.95M | 5.44M | $2.38 | $4.76 | 100.00% | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20777.15 |
 BAT | 25.63M | 3.91M | $1.21 | $1.26 | 4.13% | 0.00 | 0.00 | -36889.48 |
 LPT | 617.22K | 3.10M | $3.75 | $6.00 | 60.00% | 0.00 | 0.00 | -888.45 |
What are Grayscale trusts for?
Grayscale’s crypto trusts address a key issue: legal compliance. For institutional investors, investment legality is a basic requirement. Professional financial market participants cannot simply register on a cryptocurrency exchange and buy crypto. In addition to legal issues, Grayscale handles the secure custody of cryptocurrencies.
Company history
- Grayscale was founded in 2013 and launched its first Bitcoin trust, GBTC, that same year.
- In 2015, the investment company became a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust began trading on the OTCQX over-the-counter market.
- In 2017, the company attempted to convert GBTC into an ETF but withdrew its application following negative comments from the regulator. Later that year, two additional investment funds were launched, covering Ethereum Classic (ETC) and ZCash (ZEC).
- In 2018, a fourth investment fund, Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC), was established, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Public trading in the fund began in 2019.
- In 2020, the GBTC fund began reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- In 2021, the company launched Grayscale Solana Trust. At that time, Grayscale had $50 billion in assets under management.
- As of November 2022, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) held the largest share of BTC on the market: 643 572 BTC, representing 3% of all available coins at that time.