Grayscale has added $283.3 million to its premier Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) product, despite the fact that the product continues to trade at a significant discount compared to the bitcoin held within.
An update from Grayscale on April 20 indicated that GBTC had $36.1769 billion worth of assets under management (AUM), and an update on April 21 indicated that its AUM had risen to $36.4602 billion in AUM, a rise of $283.3 million. The updates indicated that Grayscale acquired almost $1 billion in different cryptocurrency assets between the two assets.
Grayscale’s significant bitcoin buy came despite the fact that GBTC is currently trading at a 13.88% negative spread between its premium and net asset value (NAV). GBTC hit a record low against NAV in March.
“The development of a negative GBTC premium throws a wrench in the popular carry trade of redeeming Grayscale shares at a premium and shorting bitcoin futures,” as Bitcoin Magazine reported at the time. “This offered a relatively risk-free yield to investors for some time, while simultaneously acting as a one-way street for locking up bitcoin. Now, with the premium deeply in the negative, the incentive has disappeared to redeem shares of GBTC, and this, unsurprisingly, is what has occurred.”