Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) has its assets hitting their lowest point since the all-time highs at the end of last year’s price rally.
GBTC’s Assets at Their Lowest
Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust’s shares are down 80 percent since the world’s first and foremost cryptocurrency hit its all-time high at the end of last year’s price rally, Bloomberg reports.
Besides the declining price, however, some investors are correlating the notable downtrend to the fund’s hefty expense fees. Reportedly, GBTC charges 2 percent on the invested amount as an expense fee, where the average equity mutual fund expense ratio was roughly around 0.59 percent back in 2017.
Speaking on the matter, Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at TF Global Markets UK said:
Expense ratios are insane for these funds and the current Bitcoin price is creating more problems.
Bitcoin (BTC) 00 is currently trading roughly around 60 percent below its all-time high value.
Investment Interest Unfazed
Despite the steep market decline in 2018, investors’ interest in the field doesn’t seem to fade away. In July, Grayscale disclosed that they are experiencing the highest rate of investment in its history — $250 million since January.
In its Digital Asset Investment Report, the company outlined:
However, what is more interesting, and somewhat counterintuitive, is that the pace of investment into Grayscale products has accelerated to a level that we have not seen before […] Bitcoin continues to be the most popular position for Grayscale investors, with 63% of inflows into Bitcoin Investment Trust and 37% into Grayscale products tied to other digital assets.
In August, Bitcoinist reported that cryptocurrency hedge funds are launching at a record pace. According to the study from Crypto fund Research, 2018 will see a total of 165 new cryptocurrency funds.