Michael Sonnenshine: “Pension funds’ interest in crypto assets is growing”

According to the CEO of Grayscale Investments, the company expects an increased interest in cryptocurrencies from pension funds, which will help the market grow.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has become a leader among large investors in digital assets and now owns over 3% of the total BTC. Grayscale’s new CEO Michael Sonnenshein, who succeeds Barry Silbert, said:

“We started to see interest in cryptoassets not only from hedge funds. Recently, more and more other institutional investors, including pension funds and targeted funding funds, are interested in investing in crypto assets. The amount of money they allocate for investment is also growing rapidly.

Grayscale has ten funds and currently has $ 25 billion in assets under management, up from $ 2 billion a year ago, Sonnenschein said. The company plans to double its staff of 24, continue to invest in advertising and introduce half a dozen new products this year.

Grayscale funds operate as trusts that hold growing stocks of cryptoassets that cannot be redeemed by investors. Most trusts can sell shares in the secondary market. According to Sonnenschein, the success of GBTC has the potential to impact the BTC supply.

“We need to consider the impact of Grayscale and any other similar investment vehicle that can take BTC out of circulation and turn it into a financial product that inherently increases the scarcity of an already scarce asset,” Sonnenshine said.

As a reminder, in December Grayscale Investments suspended investments in six funds, including GBTC and Ethereum Trust (ETHE), amid growing cryptocurrency markets. In early December, the company announced that it would split the ETHE fund’s shares in a 9: 1 ratio.