Share this article
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Discount Narrows to Lowest Since May 2022
Buying for the trust has picked up on hopes the SEC might soon approve a spot bitcoin ETF.
Updated Jul 11, 2023, 3:18 p.m. Published Jul 10, 2023, 5:15 p.m.
The discount to net asset value (NAV) for the $19 billion-plus Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) continues to narrow in the wake of asset manager BlackRock’s (BLK) application to open a spot bitcoin ETF in the United States.
The discount to NAV had ballooned to nearly 50% late last year and spent most of 2023 in a range on either side of 40%, but began a steep narrowing trend following BlackRock’s mid-June filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It fell to as low as 26% at one point last week – the trimmest level since May 2022 – and currently sits at about 27%, according to data from Ycharts.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
BlackRock’s move for a spot bitcoin ETF set off a number of filings and re-filings for similar funds from a number of other industry actors, including from fellow asset management giant Fidelity. The moves by such powerful players have raised investor hopes that the SEC will finally approve a spot bitcoin ETF after years of rejections.
That, in turn, has fueled buying in the heavily discounted GBTC, which Grayscale nearly two years ago filed to convert to a spot bitcoin ETF. The Grayscale filing was among those SEC rejections, prompting the company to sue the agency, with a decision expected by the end of quarter three.
Lawyers for the Grayscale on Monday added to their case, with a court filing noting the SEC in late June approved a leveraged bitcoin futures-based ETF, an "even riskier" product than previously approved bitcoin futures ETFs.
While optimism for SEC approval of a spot bitcoin ETF is running high at the moment, continued investor caution could be warranted. "I had a really good laugh when we saw the BlackRock [spot bitcoin ETF] filing come out," said Opimas CEO and founder Octavio Marenzi, appearing on CoinDesk TV Monday morning. He took note that the BlackRock fund seeks to use Coinbase (COIN) as its crypto custodian even as that exchange is facing a lawsuit from the SEC.
Grayscale and CoinDesk are both owned by Digital Currency Group.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Coinbase Sees Crypto Recovery Ahead as Liquidity Improves and Fed Rate Cut Odds Climb
The crypto exchange also took note of a so-called AI bubble that continues to go strong and a weaker U.S. dollar.
What to know:
- Coinbase Institutional is seeing a potential December recovery in crypto, citing improving liquidity and a shift in macroeconomic conditions that could favor risk assets like bitcoin.
- The firm's optimism is driven by rising odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts, with markets pricing in a 93% chance easing next week, and improving liquidity conditions.
- Several recent institutional developments, including Vanguard's crypto ETF policy reversal and Bank of America's greenlighting of crypto allocations, have contributed to bitcoin's rebound from recent lows.
Top Stories
