The Chicago-based Rothschild Investment Corporation has increased its bitcoin exposure by buying up more shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), to now have over $1 million worth of shares in its portfolio.
According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosed Monday, the institutional investment manager of $1.4 billion now holds 30,454 GBTC shares, which at press time are worth about $1.04 million.
It’s worth noting that Rothschild Investment first bought shares of Grayscale’s bitcoin investment vehicle back in 2017, but appeared to have exited its position shortly after. The firm started adding bitcoin exposure to its portfolio in 2017 and has been adding since then.
The Rothschild Investment Corporation was founded in 1908 in Chicago and is a registered financial brokerage, dealer, and a member of SIPC and FINRA. It broke out from the Rothschild family dynasty after a fallout, according to Bloomberg, although this did not hinder its success.
Each GBTC share has 0.00094882 BTC in it. The value of the underlying bitcoin per share is currently around $31, meaning the fund’s shares are trading at a premium. Market analysts believe this premium – which has been much higher – is paid for by institutional investors who prefer not to have to deal with managing private keys.
Grayscale manages crypto funds for an annual fee – of 2% in GBTC’s case – and its inflows have been growing exponentially over the last few quarters as institutional investors enter the market. Last year, it went from $2 billion in assets under management to over $20 billion.
Analysts at JPMorgan Chase, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, have argued that if inflows to Grayscale drop, the price of BTC may endure a correction over the slowdown.
Featured image via Pixabay.
