FTX CEO: Unlocking Grayscale Shares Will Not Affect Bitcoin Price
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Sam Bankman-Freed, CEO of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange statedthat the unblocking of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares and their possible subsequent sale in the secondary market “does not matter much” for the Bitcoin price. Bankman-Fried warned that anything could happen in the markets, so he urged not to rely on his words as investment advice, writes RBC Crypto.
remember: most GBTC creators are doing arbs; most people getting long are buying in markets.
so the unlock prob doesn’t really matter for BTC, if people sell GBTC most will buy BTC against it. https://t.co/w8Stpht4Jf
— SBF (@SBF_Alameda) July 12, 2021
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares have a deferred redemption mechanism. GBTC holders must hold their shares for six months before they can be sold. In July of this year, shares that were purchased in January will be unlocked.
According to the Bybt service, more than 16 thousand bitcoins will be unlocked on July 18 alone ($ 560 million at the rate of July 12). In total, about 40 thousand bitcoins ($ 1.4 billion) will be unlocked in July.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust functions similarly to an ETF, but is not registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), so only accredited investors have access to it.
At the end of June, Glassnode analysts pointed to a decline in institutional interest in bitcoin. In their opinion, this is evidenced by the discount with which the shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust are traded: they can be bought cheaper than bitcoin itself, which was not the case before, since investors paid a premium for buying a share in the fund.
