Grayscale Pulls in $1 Billion in Bitcoin in One Week

Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has seen a $1.2 billion influx of fresh funds from investors since January 15, according to its latest filing with the SEC.

Michael Sonnenshein, who was appointed the company’s new CEO earlier this month, tweeted the exact amount totaled $1,276,147,151.

This is a record number for GBTC, which saw an average of $217 million raised on a weekly basis in Q4 of 2020.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is one of the few ways institutional investors can get exposure to Bitcoin without having to hold the asset itself. Each share represents a slither of a Bitcoin, with Grayscale keeping charge of the underlying asset.

On January 15, Grayscale announced it had a record $27.1 billion in assets under management, once again signaling growing demand from institutional investors such as hedge funds, endowments and pension funds.

Institutional demand has been often cited as a key reason for Bitcoin price soaring to over $40,000 this month. Similarly, the number of Bitcoin whales has been steadily increasing, even though prices have since dipped.

In its latest report, Grayscale says institutions have historically accounted for a majority of the firm’s inflows, and this was especially true last quarter-institutions accounted for 93% of all capital inflows.

As of January 20, 2021, there are 675,942,800 GBTC shares issued and outstanding, the filing notes.

The Grayscale Bitcoin fund, the company's most popular product, temporarily stopped onboarding new investors before the new year, re-opening the doors last week. And, clearly, the institutions were waiting.