A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published on Monday has revealed that the Morgan Stanley Europe Opportunity Fund owned roughly $880,000 worth of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares as of April 30.
Per the NPORT-P (a monthly portfolio investments report) filed with the SEC, Morgan Stanley’s investment fund held at least 28,289 GBTC shares on April 30. At the current price of $31.13 per share, this amounts to $880,636.
The Europe Opportunity Fund's NPORT-P filing with the SEC. Image: www.sec.gov
However, at the time the document was filed, the reported price of shares was estimated at $1,325,339. This is because the value of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares is directly tied—unsurprisingly—to Bitcoin's price. On April 30, BTC was trading at around $54,000-$56,000, according to crypto metrics platform CoinGecko, but has slid down to around $35,000 since then.
The SEC filing also showed that the fund’s Bitcoin investment amounts to around 0.5367% of its total net assets. Additionally, the “payoff profile” was reported as “long,” suggesting that the shares in question are viewed as a long-term investment.
According to its website, the Morgan Stanley Europe Opportunity Fund “seeks to maximize capital appreciation by investing primarily in high quality established and emerging companies located in Europe that the investment team believes are undervalued at the time of purchase.”
What is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)?
Grayscale Investments is currently the largest crypto asset manager in the world. According to the company’s latest report, Grayscale currently has $31.5 billion worth of various cryptocurrencies under its management.
The firm’s Bitcoin Trust is the biggest by far, amounting to $23.16 billion. It is followed by the Grayscale Ethereum Trust with $6.82 billion. Other crypto-focused funds launched by Grayscale currently account for anywhere between $369 million and $3 million.
06/29/21 UPDATE: Net Assets Under Management, Holdings per Share, and Market Price per Share for our Investment Products.
In mid-March, Morgan Stanley also became the first major U.S. bank to offer its wealthier clients exposure to Bitcoin funds such as FS NYDIG Select Fund, the Galaxy Bitcoin Fund LP, and the Galaxy Institutional Bitcoin Fund LP.
Recently, investment firm ARK Invest similarly tapped Grayscale to take advantage of Bitcoin’s price dip. On June 24, as the price of BTC dropped below $30,000, the company bought 1,046,002 GBTC shares for a total of around $29 million. This purchase has boosted ARK’s GBTC holdings to 8.6 million shares ($238.9 million).
Grayscale's two-year battle to launch a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) may finally be turning a corner. On August 29, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit sided with Grayscale over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the crypto firm's quest to launch a Bitcoin ETF. The price of Bitcoin rose significantly following the news.
Bitcoin Surges After Grayscale Wins Appeal Against SEC
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which was launched in 2013, enable...
However, ARK Invest and Morgan Stanley appear to be swimming against the tide; according to a recent report by crypto analytics company Glassnode, institutional investors are losing interest in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, with GBTC shares trading at a significant discount—meaning that their price is lower than the current value of BTC they represent.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Franchise owners of restaurant brands Johnny Rockets, Fatburger, Round Table Pizza, Great American Cookies, and other FAT Brands entities can now pay franchisee royalty payments in Bitcoin.
The publicly traded FAT Brands (Nasdaq: FAT), which boasts 18 different franchise concepts and more than 2,300 locations worldwide, said the move “underscores its commitment to financial and technological innovation.”
“Over the years, Bitcoin has transformed into a mainstream asset and, as a company, we see...
Users of popular payments apps PayPal and Venmo will soon be able to buy, sell, hold, and transfer Solana and Chainlink from directly inside their accounts alongside leading cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum.
PayPal said that adding the new coins, which are both among the top 15 most valuable cryptocurrencies by market cap respectively according to data from CoinGecko, reflects the company’s "dedication to the evolving digital currency landscape.”
“Since we initially made cryptocurrencies a...
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has purchased $10.7 million in GME stock, eight days after the video game retailer announced its plans to add Bitcoin to its treasury reserve.
Cohen bought 500,000 Class A shares of GME at $21.55 per share, according to a financial disclosure filed on April 3 with the Securities Exchange Commission. The executive now holds 8.4% of stock issued by GameStop, or 37,347,842 shares.
GameStop's stock closed at $23.49 on Friday, up more than 11%. Shares are down about 50% sinc...