Version 2022-06-05
Grayscale is a financial company that created and manages the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), an investment fund whose portfolio consists entirely of a practically static hoard of bitcoins (BTC).
Ordinary GBTC investors can trade their shares with other investors, with some restrictions; but cannot get them redeemed by Grayscale, either in dolalrs or in bitcoins. Grayscale also takes some of the bitcoins as management and storage fees.
GBTC shares are not traded on stock exchanges like NYSE or NASDAQ, but through a network of securities brokers and dealers. Its share price is implicitly defined by bids and offers of various dealers, which are reported on the OTCQX online service. Unlike those open marketplaces, OTCQX does not handle money or execute trades by matching bids and orders itself. Instead, the brokers listed there trade the shares directly among themselves.
Because of those restrictions and fees, the market price of a GBTC share has for some time been about 25% lower than the spot market price of the 0.05 BTC in Grayscale's custody that nominally corresponds to that share.
In November 2021, Grayscale requested from the SEC the conversion of the GBTC fund to an Electronincally Traded Fund (ETF). As such, the fund shares could be more conveniently traded in a securities exchange (specifically, NYSE Arca) in the same way as other ETFs, which are more similar to the way stock shares are traded in stock exchanegs. That should keep the price of the ETF shares close to the spot price of the underlying bitcoins in cryptocurrency exchanges.
Grayscale encouraged the current GBTC investors to write to the SEC expressing support of the conversion, and even provided a letter template with slots where the sender should fill their name and place of residence. As a result, the SEC public comments space was overwhelmed with a torrent of "spam" letters (more than 7000 as ov 2022-05-29).
Grayscale's motivation for the request is clear. Since Bitcoin is not a productive asset, its price will collapse without a continuous inflow of new investment. By converting their fund to an ETF they hope to attract many more investors -- especially the savings of millions of americans that today find it difficulet to invest in GBTC because it is (in theory) restricted to "accredited investors" and cannot be used for retirement savings (IRA and 401k). These restrictions are quite appropriate, since the complexity of bitcoin makes its risks and flaws very difficult to see, even by investors with some knowledge of computers or finance.
The restriction already seems to be ineffective, though. Grayscale claims to have more than 850'000 investors, and many of them seem to be middle-class workers or retirees who are already investing their retirement savings in the fund. This situation is so dire that the US Department of Labor had to issue an explicit recommendation against it.
Most authors of the letters -- mostly current or prospective GBTC investors -- seem to have some big misundertandings about the mission of the SEC, particularly what "protect investors" means. Some also may be unaware of consequences of the conversion for their investments. Grayscale naturally did not care to dispell those misconceptions; on the contrary, incorporated them in their letter template.
The Grayscale model letter includes this sentence, copied by thousands of the letters: "By not approving this conversion, you are not protecting me, the investor – the very person you were appointed to protect." The model letter then explains how the current formulation of the GBTC fund harms its investors because of the significant difference between GBTC share price and the price of the underlying bitcoins.
That line exposes a deep misconception about the SEC's mission. If your investment sours and you lose money, or did not profit as much as you think you should, that is not the SEC's problem. It is your problem, that you should take up with the issuers -- or sell the thing and invest the money in some. In particular, the SEC has no obligation, legal or moral, to help reduce the losses of those who decided to invest in GBTC. Morever, when investors choose GBTC, they had no promise by Grayscale that it would be later converted to an ETF, nor any other reason to expect that.
If protecting and improving the market price of investments was part of the SEC's mission, they would have to endorse pump-and-dump penny stock scams and ponzi schemes, instead of shutting them down; and praise the scammers who create them, instead of sending them to jail. It just does not make sense.
Many of the letters received by the SEC have words to the effect of "a Spot Bitcoin ETF would allow people like me to invest into the world's most popular cryptocurrency"
The SEC has no obligation, legal or moral, to let a security be freely issued and traded just because millions of people want to invest in it. Quite the opposite.
The SEC was created because the crash or 1929 and the Great Depression showed how easy it is for scammers to sell fraudulent or grossly misrepresented securities, even to investors who believe that they "understand the risks". Thus the SEC's mission is to block selling and trading of such securities to the general public, and to make sure that those which are allowed are correctly described, including all the risks. Moreover, the more appealing an investment is to the genral public, the more rigorous the SEC must be in this task.
This story has been repeated in other fields. The Thalidomide disaster showed that it was foolish to let pharmaceutical industries freely market and sell medical drugs, and spurred the creation of government agencies like the US FDA with authority to block drugs irrespective of their popularity. The deaths attributed to the Great London Smog of 1952 and the smogs of Los Angeles and New York led to strict environmental protection laws and agencies like the US EPA. The 1919 Great Molasses Flood of Boston started the present laws that require filing of structural calculations, signed by qualified engineers, before any building project is allowed to start. And so on.
Thus, the thousands of letter authors who demand the ability to invest their retirement savings in a bitcoin ETF, even though they clearly cannot understand the technical and financial flaws of BTC, are in fact a strong argument against the conversion. "The NEMA must increase the size of holes of standard power outlets because there are 15 million toddlers in the US who just want to stick their fingers into them."
The SEC has justified their denial of previous Bitcoin ETF proposals with concerns that the the bitcoin market price could be easily manimpulated. Several letters reject that justification by pointing out that such manipulation already happens for many securities that the SEC has approved.
However, price manipulation is a very bad thing, no matter which securities it affects. The SEC cannot completely prevent it from happening in securities that it already approved, even though it devotes considerable resources to investigate potential instances and prosecute the agents responsible. Thus it makes no sense to approve a proposed security that is based on an asset whose price is notoriously affected by manipulation but (in the current SEC view) outside their regulatory reach.
As a payment system for legal commerce, bitcoin is a utter failure, for many incurable technical and economic reasons that have no fix in sight. These include its inherently limited capacity (insufficient to support 5 million users doing one payment per week), extremely volatile value (that can rise or drop by more than 10% in minutes), its sluggishness (minimum 10 minutes for first tentative confirmation, sometimes hours or days), its high operating cost (currently about 25 million USD/day, more than $50 for each transaction, paid by investors rather than users), its insecurity (there is no way to reverse or remedy mistakes, by thefts, or payments to fraudulent merchants), and many more. The Lightning Network, which has been touted for years as a solution for some of these problems, has in fact even bigger problems that will prevent it from serving even the couple millions that Bitcoin itself can handle.
Being a failure as a payment system also makes it a failure for the other uses that have been claimed for it, including "large settlement payments", "reserve currency of the world", and "store of value". As for the latter, in particular, there is no "natural floor price" for bitcoin that is anywhere above zero. (Whereas gold, for example, has a floor price of at least a few hundred USD/oz because of its consumption in jewelry, decoration, and industry.) In fact, this general economic failure is shared by all other cryptocurrencies, even those that are somewhat better that BTC in one or two aspects.
Adoption of bitcoin as a currency of trade is still negligible, in spite of almost a decade of intense marketing efforts by its promoters. Bitcoin has only two significant uses: a tool for illegal payments, and the vehicle for the biggest ponzi-like scam in history.
Illicit uses of bitcoin include ransomware (which was virtually unknown before it adopted bitcoin and is today the biggest and fastest-growing form of cybercrime, causing many billions of USD of damage each year), drugs-by-mail (see Silk Road and all dark markets that followed, responsible for thousands of deaths by drugs like fentanyl-laced heroin), child porn and sex trafficking (see Jeff Epstein, Joel Greenberg, George Nader), tax evasion, bribery, fraudulent sales and investments, and more. These users put up with the flaws above because bitcoin are the only digital payment method that does not respect KYC/AML laws.
Both GBTC and the proposed BTC ("raw" plus ETF) have entities that take out money from the investors. For GBTC it is Grayscale, that skims the BTC in its hoard as maintenance and management fees. For the proposed market, in addition to some residual Grayscale fees, there will be the miners, who take the equivalent of ~900 BTC daily from investors, as they sell their reward coins to them. Therefore, both markets have the same negative sum financial structure of a Ponzi scheme.
If bitcoin is a system whose contribution to humanity is very negative, it makes no sense to allow investment into it, no matter how many people want to do so. And if bitcoin is a rotten investment, any derivatives -- such as bitcoin futures, funds, exchanges, and the like -- cannot be anything other than rotten too.
One of the main arguments made by Grayscale and their lawyers, and included in their template comment, is that the SEC has already approved a Bitcoin Futures ETF, thus they should not object to the musch simpler and more capitalized Spot ETF. They cite the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) which requires consistency in the decisions of regulating agencies.
However, the two funds have completely different nature. The Bitcoin futures ETF BITO has a source of income that could in theory pay back all its investors with profit: namely the trading of the BTC futures contracts. It is true that the BITO profits ultimately come from losses of the investors in BTC, but at least it is not from the BITO investors themselves. BITO thus can be compared to a dairy company, whose cows are the BTC investors.
In contrast, both the GBTC fund and the proposed Bitcoin Spot ETF will have no such source of revenue. While the coins reside in the virtual vaults of those funds, they produce absolutely no revenue -- not even by being used as currency of commerce or illegal payments, not even by being lent for interest.
As long as there is no redemption of GBTC shares, any profit of a GBTC investor can come from only one place: other GBTC investors. The same is true of the proposed ETF, except that, since the hoard will be regularly adjusted by buying or selling BTC on the open marked, the universe of investors is not just the ETF investors but includes also all investors in raw BTC. In other words, the profit of someone who invest in BTC, either "in the raw" or through the proposed ETF, can come from only one source: the money provided by another similar investor.
Moreover, both GBTC and the proposed ETF will have their fate tied to that of Bitcoin: if the price of bitcoin goes to zero (as it must eventually, because of its negative-sum ponzi character), the same will happen to the shares of both funds, and their investors will lose money. Whereas the success of BITO depends on the skill luck of its traders in predicting the BTC price months in advance. Since they can short it (bet on it going down), it is theoretically possible that all BITO investors will exit with a profit, even if the price of bitcoin goes straight down to zero from now on.
As for the risk of market manipulation, for BITO the main risk persumably is that the fund traders could manipulate the BTC market price to match their futures contracts; which would benefit for BITO investors. Whereas the risk for GBTC and the spot ETF is that Greyscale or other traders will manipulate the BTC price to benefit them at the expense of the GBTC/ETF investors.
In summary, the approval of BITO is not an argument for approval of the GBTC ETF fund, because the two are totally different things. Investing in GBTC, or in the proposed ETF, is like investing in lottery tickets; whereas investing BITO is like investing in a lottery ticket shop. Both are morally reprehensible, since they are economic parasites that take money mostly from uneducated people without providing anything of value in resturn; but, in a strictly financial view, the second makes sense, the first doesn't.
Indeed, this "consistency" argument by the Grayscale lawyers is clearly a preemptive attack, intended to deflect attention from fact that it actually works against them: since the SEC has previously denied all proposals of bitcoin spot ETFs, consistency requires that it reject Grayscale's, too...
And, finally, many of the letters show that sender did not understand the nature of BITO. Some seem to believe that it will hold (and be backed by) actual bitcoins; others think that its market price will be tied to the BTC price; others confuse investing in BITO with themselves buying BTC futures contracts. Naturally Grayscale does not seem to have made any effort to educate them on this point.
Many other countries have looser regulations, or more inept or corrupt regulators. Not just in finance, but in all areas. "The US should lead the world in crypto" means that it should have more restrictive regulation, not less. Such as banning the toxic garbage that is crypto.
Many letters seem to imply that a conversion of GBTC to an ETF should be a natural progression, that the SEC is only delaying. But such a promise should never have been made. Grayscale had better not have fostered that hope in any way, even tacitly, before the present filing.
Here are some of the letters that caught my attention for one reason or another.
| 2022-05-22 | Joshua_Unseth One of the two iconoclastic Bicoin Uncensored commentators. He's actually in favor of the ETF but tries to use 'reverse psychology' or sarcasm: I am Joshua Unseth, a 35ish year old African Americanish male who loves Bitcoin [...] As an avid collector of things such as Norman Borlaug pictures and Beanie Babies, I have gained an interest in Bitcoin and would like to add as much as I can of it to my personal collection. [...] it is imperative for the purpose of equity and fairness that you continue encouraging GBTC to trade at a discount of more than 30%. It is well worth the 2% fee, at the moment, to buy coins at a price that is slightly above $20,000. It is my sincere belief if you deny this request, the discount will become even steeper, and I would appreciate the opportunity to acquire coins at a NAV closer to (perhaps) even 50% cheaper than I could on the open market. [...] I am certain that a majority of the people who are writing you will write in support of your approval. [...] But I ask that you reject these arguments. [...] it is my fear that Bitcoin will go up if an ETF is approved [...] Please do not destroy this perfectly reasonable 30% discount simply because it would be 'good' for people. |
| 2022-05-20 | Lauri_Friel I am vehemently AGAINST [...] I strongly believe in Cryptocurrency and Crypto ETFs. I also know that Grayscale is not the sponsor that should handle such an offering. [...] After purchases, I noticed that Grayscale's fact sheets (sources attached) for $ETCG and $BCHG stated: 'The Product will not generate any income and regularly sells/distributes digital assets to pay for its ongoing expenses. Therefore, the amount of digital assets represented by each share will gradually decline over time.' This statement alone makes their investment program unsuitable for any investor. |
| 2022-05-14 | Philipp_Schnell Bitcoin is in a turf war with itself and competing protocols and involved in many lawsuits. Grayscale should not be doing as much 'business' as it already does, let alone expand. If anything, you should probably move to tame the 99% of the crypto market, which is either directly or indirectly involved in criminal activity. But I understand it was difficult to foresee that mankind did not need another 500 Dogtokens (this was sarcasm). |
| 2022-05-11 | Mike_Kim Do NOT support the conversion of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust [...] This is a an ETF that has no intrinsic value and will cause massive losses for the common person. |
| 2022-05-10 | Shepherd I am an ordinary citizen and have no interest in Bitcoin or any other Crypto. I [...] have seen so many posts promoting Bitcoin [...] SEC should not allow GBTC or any other entity to convert to ETF. This would make ordinary citizens gamble on these highly volatile tokens. |
| 2022-05-10 | Eric_Bowler I am NOT in favor [...] I believe individuals should custody their bitcoin directly or in a collaborative custody fashion, similar to cash. |
| 2022-05-08 | Adam_Pierce ... Bitcoin is a fictional asset. This alone is obviously disqualifying. ... |
| 2022-05-01 | Mark_Bloomfield Short but to the point. Permitting a Bitcoin ETF essentially legitimises what may be the largest fraud ever perpetrated in history |
| 2022-02-08 | Adan no bitcoin etf before a tether audit. no bitcoin etf before a pokemon card etf. kyc is near impossible on all bitcoin transactions. the early holders are desperate for new liquidity to get out (the ethereum foundation have sold at each all time high) |
| 2022-02-17 | Anonymous Tether (USDT), counterfeit digital dollars on a huge global scale, is responsible for more than 70% of all trading activity in Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies. It is these fake digital Tether dollars that are most responsible for setting the dollar price of Bitcoin, not real dollars as many falsely assume. |
| 2022-03-03 | David_B._Hennes It points out that Greyscale bought $700 million worth of its own GBTC shares, at the 25% or whatever discount, and is authorized to buy $1.2 billion. If GBTC is converted to an ETF, Greyscale would then be authorized to sell the corresponding bitcoins at the market price, thus making some $200-350 million in profit -- at the expense of the suckers who sold them the shares at discount. |
| 2022-04-21 | Anonymous This one says that he invested in Grayscale's ETH fund (ETHE) not in GBTC. But he fears that if GBTC becomes an ETF, then ETHE will become one too -- and he is AGAINST that since he lives in Ireland and would not be allowed to invest in the ETF from there. |
| 2021-11-05 | Anonymous A very long letter. Many links to sources. The arguments are (1) bitcoin is highly conentrated, (2) it is being pumped by Tether and others, (3) that afects the price index to be derived from prices at the exchanges. |
| 2022-03-14 | Paun_Gabriel_Razvan Accuses Barry himself of manipulating the price with social media messages, in particular with a tweet Big week ahead that (the author says) caused the price shoot up 10%, leading to the $69k ATH. |
| 2022-04-18 | David_Golumbia As you and other regulators have noted repeatedly, Bitcoin trading is almost entirely constituted by market manipulation of various sorts, and depends on that market manipulation to keep cash flowing into the system. |
| 2022-04-18 | Jorge_Stolfi That's me. |
| 2022-04-18 | Carl_Larsen None of the conditions current during the previous SEC rejections of this fund have been remedied. This is a terrible idea that could further legitimize a ponzi scheme |
| 2022-04-19 | Elliot_Kleinfelder It's a tool for criminals. It's massively manipulated. Tether and stablecoins are a terrifying threat. Bitcoin and crypto in general is as close to a massive Ponzi as we've seen recently |
| 2022-04-20 | David_Rosenthal The constant pressure to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF exists because Bitcoin is a negative-sum game - Bitcoin whales need to increase the flow of dollars in so as to have dollars to withdraw. The SEC should not pander to them. |
| 2022-04-22 | H._Hatter Unfortunately with no arguments. |
| 2022-04-22 | J._Brown He thinks that Grayscale should keep being what it chose to be, or shut down; he wants an ETF but thinks it should be an independent enterprise. |
| 2022-04-22 | Natisha_Harper This may be the best one. |
| 2022-04-22 | Marie_McCaffrey Wants a bitcoin ETF, but not Grayscale's. |
| 2022-04-24 | Russell_Foxworthy Please do not allow GBTC to create a spot Bitcoin ETF. The Bitcoin market is manipulated by offshore exchanges. |
| 2022-04-23 | Gary_McClernan With original argument: I am concerned that short hedge funds will be able to manipulate that price of the ETF BTC product so that the price is not directly related to the performance of the underlying BTC. Would that be meta-manipulation? |
| 2022-04-23 | Edward_Elliott The constant pressure to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF exists because Bitcoin is a negative-sum game - Bitcoin whales need to increase the flow of dollars in so as to have dollars to withdraw. The SEC should not pander to them. |
| 2022-04-22 | Robert_Farina Unfortunately with no arguments. |
| 2022-04-22 | Steven_Bell I feel as though cryptocurrency is damaging to society as a whole [...] Acting like a pyramid |
| 2022-05-03 | Tom_Calderwood Takes a quote from Madness of Crowds book and replaces tulips by bitcoin throughout. |
| 2022-05-15 | Brian_W._Schwisow Fun letter: Really finance and bitcoin should fall under fiction writing class 101. |
| 2022-05-10 | Anonymous Dont allow these Ponzi schemes to destroy our country Nobody needs these unregulated, untrustworthy, unaudited asset classes. |
| 2022-05-31 | Michael_Schenk My investment in GBTC is held in an IRA account |
| 2022-05-17 | Cynthia_Tisher I was raised by a single mother, sometimes working up to 3 jobs to provide for her three children. I have worked hard, as other Americans, [...] have been able to invest into GBTC with a portion of my IRA. |
| 2022-05-16 | Peter_Wright I have been a long term holder of the GBTC in my IRA |
| 2022-05-13 | Jonas_Lamis I currently hold GBTC in my Fidelity IRA and previously held the Coinshares XBT until it was frozen for US investors by the SEC. |
| 2022-05-11 | Michael_Johnson As a shareholder in the GBTC via the brokerage link attached to my 401K retirement plan |
| 2022-05-11 | Adam_R._Gandolfi I'm in my 50's and I hold index funds in my retirement accounts...along with GBTC. |
| 2022-05-10 | Valerie_Walshe As a long time investor in Bitcoin and GBTC (in our IRA since we cannot buy Bitcoin directly in an IRA) |
| 2022-05-10 | Maxwell_Sayles I personally hold GBTC in my 401k and know of family and friends who do as well. |
| 2022-05-10 | Marc_James I max my 401k out every year. I max my wife's and my ira every year. I own rentals, I own BTC and diversify in collectibles (rare game used sports memorabilia). [...] I'm not the most sophisticated investor, but I'm a hard working self made multimillionaire." |
| 2022-05-10 | Greg_Daugherty I purchased GBTC in my IRA well over a year ago |
| 2022-05-10 | Edward_Garbarino A significant portion of my 401K portfolio has longterm allocations in GBTC, ETHE, and LTCN. |
| 2022-05-10 | Deo_Sharma I already own GBTC in my 401k |
| 2022-05-10 | Corey_Hill I [...] am nearing retirement age. Much of my wealth is in retirement accounts, making it difficult for me to invest directly in BTC. GBTC gives me some exposure |
| 2022-05-10 | Conrad_Klahn My 401K plan (Schwab Self Directed) allows for my investment in GBTC already |
| 2022-05-10 | Chad_Van_Herk I have my retirement account heavily invested in GBTC |
| 2022-05-06 | Brad_Lytle I own some Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares, which I hold in my Fidelity Brokerage account. I'm employed as a patent attorney and I have a variety of investments which serves as my 'nest egg' for my family. I have about 5% of my assets in cryptocurrency, and presently hold the cryptocurrency in GBTC, Coinbase and Paypal. |
| 2022-05-06 | Chris_Link I am a very small investor who has a long term investment in GBTC via my retirement fund. |
| 2022-05-06 | Gordon_Foreman I have held GBTC in my IRA since I bought it at $4.31 a little over four years ago. At the time, it was the only way to get exposure to Bitcoin in my Fidelity IRA |
| 2022-05-06 | James_Boer I want to be invested in bitcoin in my retirement account. Currently I do that with GBTC, but the discount to NAV is poor. |
| 2022-05-06 | James_Matthew_Wallace My only concern is that in the conversion process that the original value (correlation) between the USD I put in vs BTC's value at that time will be accurately reflected in the conversion... regardless of today's BTC value. |
| 2022-05-06 | Jed_Grant I hold Grayscale in my self-directed IRA account. |
| 2022-05-06 | Joanne_Gong Much of my retirement fund has been invested in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to avoid insecure trading of bitcoin |
| 2022-05-06 | Jork_Van_Eenaeme I have GBTC in my fidelity retirement account and I am for a change of the trust to a spot BTC ETF. |
| 2022-05-06 | Justin_Harvey I am a resident of Tennessee, and I hold shares of GBTC in an IRA. |
| 2022-05-06 | L._Schneider More importantly to me personally is that Vanguard recently started prohibiting me in trading GBTC in my retirement accounts because it is traded on the pink sheets. Allowing it to become an ETF would mean that that prohibition would end and I could trade in this financial vehicle again. |
| 2022-05-06 | Laura_Huss_and_Brian_Huss A great deal of our retirement savings is [...] locked into a fund that many of us assumed would be an ETF by now. |
| 2022-05-06 | Lawrence_Rabideau Initially GBTC was the only avenue to reliably trade crypto currency where I reside, New York State. [...] This was the only avenue I had to allocate a small portion of my IRA to bitcoin. |
| 2022-05-06 | Lucas_Piedrahita Conversion to an ETF would also allow me to continue to buy GBTC at Vanguard, which recently stopped allowing OTC stocks to be bought through their brokerage. |
| 2022-05-06 | Marcus_Didion I am currently allocating a portion of my retirement into Bitcoin and am being forced to use offshore options. |
| 2022-05-06 | Michael_Parsons I bought into this Trust NOT for trading purposes, but as the only way (at the time) to buy and hold BTC in my retirement account. |
| 2022-05-06 | Mike_Hill I hold the GBTC Grayscale Bitcoin Trust in my IRA. |
| 2022-05-06 | Phil_Mondy I use GBTC in my retirement funds. |
| 2022-05-06 | Rich_Masio I'm an investor and I own the GBTC in my IRA. |
| 2022-05-06 | Richard_Holmes I hold GBTC, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTCQX: GBTC), in my retirement account |
| 2022-05-07 | Angelini_Cory I have a bachelors degree and an MBA with a concentration in Finance [... I am] holding Grayscale Bitcoin Trust in my self managed retirement portfolio. |
| 2022-05-07 | Jim_D. I am a union aircraft mechanic from Oregon and [..] a holder of GBTC, and this issue affects me personally. |
| 2022-05-09 | Claudia_Barion-Rosario I have owned GBTC shares since 2020 through my IRA |
| 2022-05-09 | Dalton_Rosario As a long term GBTC shareholder via my IRA (since 2019) ... |
| 2022-05-09 | Dr._Madison_Spurlock I want to convert GBTC to a spot ETF so I can have a better bitcoin proxy in my 401k account. |
| 2022-04-07 | John_Ellsworth I have been investing in Bitcoin since 2015 and I am now 52 years old. My whole life, I lived paycheck to paycheck and had many sleepless nights. Bitcoin has changed my life. |
| 2022-04-12 | John_M_Piercy I converted my TSP IRA and 100% invested in GBTC two years ago with my 401k funds after retiring from federal service. |
| 2022-04-05 | Robert_Schneider I've been an investor in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) in both my taxable brokerage and tax-deferred retirement accounts since 2016, and have been a bitcoin investor since March 2013. My motivation for investing in the asset has always been a principled understanding of economics which recognizes that Bitcoin is non-confiscatable ultra hard money that can never be debased by central banks, and is thus a superior savings instrument. Over 80% of my net worth is tied up in various flavors of the asset. I come from a working class background and all of my net worth is from invested income I have earned through employment. |
| 2022-04-22 | Patrick I own GBTC in my retirement account (Traditional IRA), alongside Tesla Stock. My being able to retire at 67 is based on these two assets that I own. This is my only form of savings, and I have no other savings, thanks to COVID and layoffs. I have burnt through my savings. |
| 2022-05-03 | Kevin_Sciarra I have also through my 401K plan at work been able to buy shares of the GBTC trust. |
| 2022-05-04 | William_Neville ... I am 86 years old and hold a lot of this stock. I want to sell this stock 'at its underlying value' in order to continue my retirement. ... |
| 2022-05-04 | Andy_Hill I invested a substantial portion of my 401k savings in GBTC in early 2021. |
| 2022-05-06 | A._Ducote I hold GBTC in an IRA which I have contributed to for over 10 years in my career as a pharmacist. |
| 2022-05-06 | Bill_Wolf I am a GBTC unit holder. I hold units individually, in my IRA, and for a family LLC. |
| 2022-05-06 | Anton_Delport A significant portion of our retirement savings is tied up in an asset you have been reluctant to approve as a spot ETF. |
| 2022-05-06 | Andrew_Payne I own this holding in all of my retirement accounts |
| 2022-05-05 | Ryan_C. I am a disabled purple heart veteran [...] The above is grayscales pre-canned msg but in my own words I'm buying GBTC for my retirement account which is red (over last 3 years) I just started investing because I have never had a 401k and I'm over 40 years old. I have purchased QQQ which has lost more money than BTC. SPACS I bought have lost more than BTC. If it wasn't for the GBTC discount, I wouldn't be losing money. |
| 2022-05-05 | Erol_Irez My wife and I both own GBTC in our IRA's and I have been forced to purchase a Bitcoin futures mutual fund in my 401a and 403b. |
| 2022-05-10 | Vincent_Bataoel I invest in $GBTC to gain exposure to Bitcoin through my IRA |
| 2022-05-10 | Scott_Beeker GBTC gives me the opportunity to invest a small portion of my 401k retirement funds into the most established asset |
| 2022-05-10 | Thor_Markwood I own this trust in my 401(k) |
| 2022-05-10 | Benjamin_Dorvel I wanted to get a reasonable amount of Bitcoin exposure in my 401k and GBTC was the only option available |
| 2022-05-10 | Eric_Morse "I continue to be an Illinois based investor in GBTC within my [...] 401k holdings. |
| 2022-05-10 | Ron_Mudd I have owned GBTC for over 2 year in my IRA account. |
| 2022-05-11 | Cesar_Jimenez I want to invest a % of my 401k rollover in Spot Bitcoin |
| 2022-05-10 | Travis_Braun my employer sponsored 457b currently does not allow me to buy GBTC, I am hoping that a change to a Spot ETF will allow me to purchase these shares |
| 2022-05-10 | Ryan_Daryl_Beglau I would like to be able to gain exposure through my company designed retirement account. |
| 2022-05-10 | Ryan_Conlon In 2021, I cleared out a portion of my 401k resulting in a significant taxable event just so I could have those funds to purchase bitcoin. |
| 2022-05-10 | Mitch_Johnson An ETF will allow standard 401k and brokerage accounts to access an asset that is useful and scarce. For years I have been invested in GBTC |
| 2022-05-10 | Matthew_Grahn As a Financial Advisor for a major firm, our clients keep asking about bitcoin. This gives us an opportunity to give them a small allocation to the space even if only 1-2%. |
| 2022-05-10 | Kade_Halvorson Providing a Bitcoin ETF would allow me to invest in Bitcoin through my Roth IRA and have it grow tax free. |
| 2022-05-06 | John_E._Novak I am retired, and not a highly sophisticated investor. Yet, I do want to participate in the direct bitcoin market. |
| 2022-05-06 | Jim_Callison It is crucial for this asset to be available for investors who want it in their retirement and other accounts. |
| 2022-05-06 | Jeffrey_Bush opening up a spot ETF [will allow many investors to] buy within their current financial institutions will allow them access to this investment option |
| 2022-05-06 | Josh_Hurd Most of my retirement is in my IRA, and a Bitcoin Spot ETF would be the best way for me to get exposure. |
| 2022-05-06 | Laura_Pekala [Conversion would] allow safe and easy opportunities to invest in Bitcoin via standard retirement vehicles such as your 401k or IRA. |
| 2022-05-06 | Muntasir_Alam to be available in retirement accounts like ROTH IRA |
| 2022-05-06 | Ted_Cavallin [I] want to be able to invest in bitcoin as directly as possible through my retirement accounts. |
| 2022-05-07 | Matt_Rorech I teach tennis at a country club for a living [...] investors like myself who wish to hold GBTC in a roth IRA for retirement at exposed to unncessary risk and lack of protection as GBTC trades below NAV. |
| 2022-05-08 | Duane_Hershberger I want a small exposure to Bitcoin in my IRA's in addition to some direct ownership through cryptocurrency exchanges. |
| 2022-05-08 | Gary_Boyle I want to allocate to my 401k and Raymond James won't even allow me access to GBTC. |
| 2022-04-27 | J'son_Lewis this asset will allow us to prepare for retirement via 401k trade BTC without discount |
| 2022-05-10 | Zachary_B._Moore As someone who uses investing to supplement my middle to lower class income I would really like to be able to invest in a Spot Bitcoin ETF |
| 2022-05-09 | Sean_Fitzpatrick I [...] would like a small, limited exposure to Bitcoin in my IRA through Graysacle |
| 2022-05-10 | Akbar_Babadjanov I would also love setting up a bitcoin fund for my kids and retirement as part of my stable portfolio. |
| 2022-05-31 | Chris_S. Your continued denial of ANY etf is criminal, if this goes to court I hope they throw the book at you. |
| 2022-05-27 | Jean_McCormick Stop thinking only of yourselves and your own financial portfolio!! |
| 2022-05-26 | Chris_Cahak Because of the total inaction on the part of those of you at the SEC [...] everyday investing americans are being screwed over by all of at the SEC. Yes, you heard that correctly. You are to blame. You are screwing us, not Grayscale. |
| 2022-05-06 | Peter_Schiff And I do not expect true public honesty and transparency from an organ such as the SEC. The author signs Peter Schiff but does not specify profession or state of residence. The letter's contents is clearly taken from the Grayscale cover letter, only with superficially edited words, and the claim Thank you for taking this time to read these comments, which are not simply copied into this email. |
| 2022-05-10 | Mustafa_Kemal_Ozkan I am personally investing in GBTC in my traditional retirement account [...] I spent many hours to understand including SEC chair, Gary Gensler's MIT blockchain classes, yes all of them! |
| 2022-05-10 | Matthew_Long I operate a food truck [...] and I'm an investor in Greyscale Bitcoin Trust. [...] How is [SEC's rejection of Bitcoin ETFs] not an utter hypocrisy? I think the real reason for your denial is evident to everyone and will be very evident to the courts if you once again fail to do your job |
| 2022-05-10 | Joshua_Wahrer The paradisial [sic] nature of forcing US based investors to take a loss in the name 'protecting' us is a laughable claim; now please move out of the way of the markets choices that you are openly hindering. |
| 2022-05-10 | Joshua_Ross You are a joke of an organization and you need to approve a spot ETF instead of wasting tax dollars circle-jerking billionaires at the detriment of a growing sector of the population. |
| 2022-05-10 | Dr._Dariel_Riera Just STOP ruining your reputation and as trustworthy entity' with outdated facts, and unrealistic 'safety concerns'. Bitcoin adoption is happening faster than you could keep yourselves irrational over time. |
| 2022-05-06 | Mark_D'Andrea Under the last few chairmen, and especially under Gary Gensler, you have gone from a well-respected institution to one that is seen by increasing millions of Americans as a corrupt, out of touch organization that exists solely to protect the interests and wealth of insiders at the expense, and explicitly contrary to the wishes of, the individual investor. |
| 2022-05-06 | Leonard_Mazzola_Jr. It is complete [REDACTED] that you still have not approved the first BTC trust from Grayscale. (The same sequence of four letters was replaced by [REDACTED] when it occurred as part of the names of two other letler authors.) |
| 2022-05-06 | Rafael_Cavalcanti I also understand many politicians see Bitcoin as a threat to the dollar. Please allow me to assure you... |
| 2022-05-06 | Way_L. Gary Gensler is effectively stealing $8 billion of investor capital by refusing to allow GBTC and ETHE to register as spot ETFs. |
| 2022-05-07 | David_S._Meridian To whichever bureaucrat at the SEC is reading this: Please be a sport and approve GBTC as a spot BTC exchange-traded fund. [...] I'm a selfish investor who has a lot of money riding on this [...] but if you need another reason [...] the delay is an exercise in indolent absurdity |
| 2022-05-07 | Robert_Myers I suspect that few or none of you actually understands Bitcoin |
| 2022-05-08 | Brandon_Cook Call it dummy insurance against government agencies getting everything wrong. |
| 2022-05-08 | Jason_Pearce Bitcoin is the greatest financial asset ever created. It is fair, unlike the SEC. It is decentralized and distributed, unlike the SEC. It plays by a simple set of programmed rules, unlike the SEC. |
| 2022-03-21 | Ashish_Rastogi Hester Pierce conveyed the absurdity of the SEC's behavior on this matter best: 'I can't believe we're still talking about this as if, you know, we're waiting for one to happen,' Peirce said. 'We've issued a series of denials even recently, and those continue to use reasoning that I think was outdated at the time.' |
| 2022-03-29 | Michael_McElveen The SEC doesn't want a spot ETF because it threatens them and the existing financial systems; their wealth and power. This is not about protecting American investors as much as it seems to be about protecting the wealth of you and your friends. Mark my words. |
| 2022-04-07 | Gannon_McAreavey Give the people what they want you fucking wankers! |
| 2022-04-08 | Daniel_Koontz Dear Chairman Gensler, Commissioner Lee, Commissioner Peirce (aka 'Crypto Mom'), Commissioner Crenshaw... Hester Peirce often goes to bitcoin events and criticizes the SEC for not approving bitcoin ETFs. |
| 2022-04-22 | Brandon_Paluba If GBTC is not given a spot ETF, I support that they go to court in a lawsuit. |
| 2022-04-22 | Brian_Sovik If not approved, then wouldn't you be advocating a centrally manipulated tyrannical financial control system? |
| 2022-05-07 | David_Morgan I'm sorry, if you want to call me a conspiracy theorist go right ahead, but the only reason I can come divine for my country (the SEC) to deny Americans Spot ETFs has to be tied up with the culture of corruption in the US government. |
| 2022-05-06 | Peter_Schiff I do not expect true public honesty and transparency from an organ such as the SEC |
| 2022-05-10 | Zachary_Barnard I own well over 3,000 shares of GBTC and I hold additional GBTC in my children's college fund. [...] I watched and took notes on every MIT class given by SEC Chair Gensler, 15.S12 Blockchain and Money, Fall 2018, all 23 videos and 29 hours, 15 minutes and 44seconds of it. He himself made the bold statement [...] |
| 2022-05-10 | Andrew_Gottemoller It's obvious you guys approved the futures based bitcoin etf to facilitate price manipulation. [...] you're not a credible agency. |
| 2022-05-10 | Anonymous it is unfortunate that the SEC is seemingly doing everything it can to harm US investors rather than protect them -- I say that without exaggeration but backed by the data. |
| 2022-05-10 | Coach_Whitlock approve the GBTC spot etf..we want it and demand it NOW....i hope they sue your ass if not approved |
| 2022-05-10 | Curtis_Sibbit Please get out of the way and let the inevitable happen. If you don't, eventually more people will just start buying crypto directly and go around you, making you inconsequential and showing your lack of usefulness as an institution. |
| 2022-05-10 | Peter_Kenny You DON'T know better. |
| 2022-05-10 | John_Biggs We have a futures ETF so WHAT IS YOUR POBLEM? |
| 2022-05-10 | Robert_Barrett The SEC knows next to nothing about investing, hence your performance during Madoff. Not to mention naked short-selling, but you folks don't care about that, your lawyers! You just want to keep the current corrupt system and get a nice job in industry after your time at the SEC. How about doing something that actually helps investors before you leave the SEC? Your record of protecting investors sucks so far, so let's try something different. Go against your banker bosses. Approve a spot ETF. |
| 2022-05-11 | Marcelk Please stop breaking the law |
| 2022-05-11 | Mark_Durgin I am requesting you respond back to me within 2 weeks to explain why you are not protecting me. |
| 2022-05-17 | Herb_Holroyd So again the SEC caters to the rich. [...] You guys are losing the public faith! |
| 2022-05-31 | Andrew_P._Steeves Bitcoin is a messaging system at its core, and anything can be tokenized and represented on a digital asset Blockchain. Securities, Commodities, Currencies, Assets, Bonds, Identities, etc. |
| 2022-05-28 | Sam_Douglass I have not managed to save up enough yet for a home. [...] Bitcoin gives me a saving grace to this. Given that bitcoin is finite (only 21 million), and secure (backed by the most computing power in the world), I am confident in its ability to serve as a store of my wealth and be my saving grace in this trying time. |
| 2022-05-27 | Yuri_Rafailsky There is no future economics without Bitcoin |
| 2022-05-23 | William_Milne Crypto is the Microsoft and Apple of this century! |
| 2022-05-17 | Luis_Prado I understand Visa and Mastercard provide [digital payments], but it does not provide the same sort of security digital currencies do. [... cards] are so easy to clone now adays with RFID readers. [...] China is banning world-wide cryptocurrencies as they want to develop their own |
| 2022-05-16 | Geoffrey_Engberson Bitcoin / Blockchain gave the world triple entry accounting. Bitcoin is the best global payment system and will be the best process for global settlement. Bitcoin is digital money and digital energy. |
| 2022-05-12 | Nils_Palmen the freedom to move digital property by the fastest and cheapest means possible should be a human right. |
| 2022-05-11 | Ryan_Cumings Bitcoin truly has the power to change the world, and work towards fixing our broken monetary system. |
| 2022-05-11 | Kevin_O'Keeffe BTC is the only hope honest people have left. This is a battle between good and evil. |
| 2022-05-10 | Tony_Miltenberger Bitcoin is so hard to understand but if the brightest of our elected officials studied Bitcoin for 1000 - 5000 hours they would then reaalize and believe this will not only keep the US in the #1 spot worldwide along with it helping all other countries. |
| 2022-05-10 | Steve_McBride I've been invested in bitcoin miners since 2019. I have never sold a single share. To me bitcoin isn't risky, it's just volatile. |
| 2022-05-10 | Roy_Wiggs Blockchain [sic] used correctly is best for all. All. Not just some at the top ALL. |
| 2022-05-10 | Michael_Scaffidi As an Environmental Biologist [...] I understand the thesis of Bitcoin Mining actually being the secret weapon to combating climate change by being a reliable customer of energy that will pay 3X what rate payers pay. |
| 2022-05-10 | Curtis_Campbell As time passes, the 'environmental' myth that Bitcoin mining is harmful becomes more and more debunked. Solar farms, flared natural gas facilities, Bitcoin mining companies' ability to stabilize the energy grid (preventing a blackout like what happened in Texas last year for example) |
| 2022-05-10 | Cory_Ferguson Like the space race of the past, the digital asset race is going to sculpt the next few generations (Maybe he meant scalp intead of sculpt?) |
| 2022-05-10 | Christopher_Pride Traditional Banks use more fossil fuels in buildings and operation than due cryto and blockchain technology. Bitcoin has demonstrated its strength for democracy and decentralized currency |
| 2022-05-10 | Anthony_DaSilva History has shown that every single government-controlled, fiat-based money system has screwed the citizenry [...] Bitcoin gives every person on earth an opportunity to trade freely with anyone else on earth. Just what god ordered. |
| 2022-05-06 | Kyle_Tilev Bitcoin is the only perfectly finite asset other than time |
| 2022-05-06 | Nick_Atkins I would argue Bitcoin is no less [sic] volatile than other stocks |
| 2022-05-06 | Rodrigo_Santamarina I at first was skeptical of Bitcoin and thought it was a danger to my investments and finance. That was before I actually spent the time to understand it. I really found that until I spent at least 10hrs of research, I had not really understood its fundamental efficacy in protecting wealth for my family and friends. |
| 2022-05-08 | Andrew_C. This will also strengthen the US dollar. Over 30% of all the Bitcoin produced worldwide is produced on American soil. When people demand Bitcoin, they demand US made products, services, and US dollars. |
| 2022-05-08 | Clifford_Wright Bitcoin is misunderstood in many ways and is not a dollar replacement. It will be an invaluable tool to software developers in a way that fixes many aspects of the internet. |
| 2022-05-08 | Kathrin_Callahan A survey by crypto trading platform Bitstamp shows that 80% of institutional investors believe crypto will overtake traditional investment vehicles. Some 70% of institutional investors said crypto was a trustworthy investment, with 68% actively recommending this asset class in investment strategies. Presumably that poll was taken among the institutional investors that are Bitstamp clients... |
| 2022-05-08 | Martin_Bedecarratz I believe that it is a human right to be able to store the fruits of your labor, Bitcoin is the savings account that we all need. |
| 2022-05-09 | Andrew_Johnston I have almost 1000 hours of study into bitcoin and I have never come across anything as important and as SAFE as bitcoin is long term. |
| 2022-03-03 | Paul_Grewal Long letter by Coinbase trying to obfuscate, I mean, demonstrate that the Bitcoin market just cannot be manipulated; in fact the Bitcoin spot market is comparably large and transparent compared to silver, palladium, and platinum markets, for which spot ETPs have been approved by the Commission |
| 2022-03-21 | Richard_Zheng I hope you do realize that Bitcoin can actually help reduce hyper-inflation currently in place now. |
| 2022-04-07 | Jesse_Doe Argues that they should approve the spot ETF because it would STRENGTHEN the status of the USD as world reserve currency. The poor guy did not get the memo... |
| 2022-05-05 | Kirk_Schooley ... I believe bitcoin mining is going to be a boom for renewable energies. The industrial miner's act like a battery on the grid.... |
| 2022-05-10 | Eric_Degler Bitcoin is the most important monetary innovation since the invention of paper money. [...] Bitcoin is not only completely harmless but beneficial to society in helping empower the unbanked and reverse climate change. |
| 2022-02-10 | Satoshi The author of this pro letter gives his affiliation as Blockchain |
| 2022-02-10 | Sean_Gallagher The author of this pro letter gives his affiliation as CEO of the FED printing press |
| 2022-05-31 | Neil_Chilson_and_Jonathan_Zalewski A longish pro PDF letter from two staff of the NGO STand Together. |
| 2022-05-30 | Rod_Leathery Let my people go. All [sic] the conversion of the GBTC to an ETF. |
| 2022-05-28 | Joel_Bomgar I am State Representative Joel Bomgar. I serve in the Mississippi House of Representatives in Mississippi and I am in favor of [the ETF] |
| 2022-05-26 | Sin_Lam_Wu I am sinlam, NFT collector from Hong Kong |
| 2022-05-17 | Dana_Leonard It is currently very hard for investors to allocate and DCA [invest by dollar-cost average] a portion of their investments to something such as Bitcoin. I have personally mistyped addresses and paid outrageous fees to hold crypto. |
| 2022-05-13 | Jack Currently the Main Stream Media see's [sic] no difference between 'Tech Stocks,' 'Crypto Currencies' and 'Bitcoin.' [...] However, there is a MASSIVE DIFFERENCE between these three things. [So approve the ETF] |
| 2022-05-13 | Anonymous I am a GBTC shareholder and Lost a lot of money already |
| 2022-05-11 | Mark_James I am a conservative investor and do not venture beyond bitcoin in the crypto space. |
| 2022-05-11 | Gale_Williams The SEC governance and oversight [...] is exactly what is driving people away from institutions and into DeFi; and [...] just drives hatred for the wealthy who have access to even riskier investments because...they're more sophisticated? Really, I know so many people that are accredited investors, and they know nothing. |
| 2022-05-11 | Dae_Yu investors in the USA are the most savvy in the world. |
| 2022-05-11 | Buddy_Evans I been dealing with Coinbase they're crooks money missing they say they're not responsible how could it possibly be ! |
| 2022-05-10 | Travis_Campbell It is my sincere hope that this email doesn't go into digital oblivion |
| 2022-05-10 | Robert_Harris Bitcoin can save our economy! But you don't see it because of old ways that have worked in the past. Bitcoin is the way to give poor people money without printing more. Bitcoin is the stimulus the people need. When Bitcoin rises so does all the coins poor people have. When poor people (all) make extra money they spend it on necessities and things they want. If they make enough they buy cars, homes, etc.. We want a Bitcoin Spot ETF. Because it will raise Bitcoin and ALT. coins. |
| 2022-05-10 | Richard_LoPresti With Trillion Dollar companies like Fidelity lobbying for an ETF as well, I don't understand why this has not been approved after all these years. |
| 2022-05-10 | Peter_Neal You guys are amazing truly are and we all our [sic] human. All things phase out over time. Let beauty reign. In the heart one knows what is true. |
| 2022-05-10 | Pedro_Rodrigues This is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, if the people will it, then that's should be. |
| 2022-05-10 | NCR_Davis I am turning 60 years old in October [...] I educate Gen X and Baby Boomers about digitalization, and many say that they would like to invest in these exciting technologies and want to keep these brilliant computer scientists, coders, and innovators in the U.S. |
| 2022-05-10 | John_Connell [I] and have lived in several states and have been to many other countries throughout the world. When I visit abroad I think about the freedoms that the citizens of those countries have compared to ours. One of these freedoms that other countries enjoy is the ability to invest in crypto more freely than US citizens. |
| 2022-05-10 | David_Kaye I think the government protecting me from my own investment decisions while at the same time allowing me to piss it all away at a casino in Vegas is ridiculous. |
| 2022-05-10 | Daniel_Grune I am [...] a stock market trader graduated from the Viña del Mar University of Chile, the first generation of Latin American cryptocurrency traders. Gives some TA mumbo-jumbo that is supposed to show that Bitcoin is the new gold. |
| 2022-05-10 | Chris_Lee Netflix dropped from $700 to $175 in 4 months. Bitcoin preformed [sic] better over the same time period. |
| 2022-05-10 | Brett_Horne Approving futures based ETF which you have already done and not a SPOT product like GBTC is the same as making porn legal while at the same time making the actual fucking illegal. Make it all legal. |
| 2022-05-10 | Brandon_Price I moved to Texas so that I could have just a marginal increase in my freedom of choices. [...] We have our own energy grid that has amazing benefits in flexibility and competition. One week it failed spectacularly, and yet most of us stayed the course anyway. |
| 2022-05-10 | Brady_Wilkin why can I collateralize my house and throw the proceeds in some obscure derivatives market, but I don't have the option to buy a simple product like a bitcoin spot ETF with some excess cash? |
| 2022-05-10 | Anonymous My 401k performance is as follows: AAPL: -13% [...] PYPL: -59% NFLX: -71% [...] i want the same ability to choose to invest in a gbtc converted spot Bitcoin fund |
| 2022-05-10 | Anonymous This will help my family overcome poverty [...] We survived the COVID-19 lock-downs, unemployment, forbearance mortgage payments, but inflation we may not survive. Our family is begging you. Our lives are in your hands, literally. Sincerely yours, Hard working blue collar family man. |
| 2022-05-10 | Andy_Kulis There are a lot of shady securities out there and a lot of shady folks cheating to trade them. What do those securities have that Bitcoin doesn't? [...] I want to own a piece of that in my IRA. |
| 2022-05-02 | Donna_Redel A longer pro letter from Donna Redel Professor of Blockchain-Crypto at Fordham Law and a lecturer at Wharton, with footnotes even. I teach in my courses a spot Bitcoin ETF is a far superior product than the one based on futures |
| 2022-05-04 | Robby_DeNicola ... I recently invested in a BTC IRA via Gemini and IRA Financial Trust, only to have my account hacked and my BTC stolen. A BTC ETF run by Grayscale would provide the protection and security ... Does this hacked and lost claim make sense? |
| 2022-02-10 | Lily_li I need gbtc to be an etf bc I invested my life savings into it. I need it to be actual btc price. To me it is like gold. I invested my familys money as well. I want fairness. I am managing over 5 mil as retail investor. am tierd of Sec [sic] protecting people. You just want to help the rich and give them access first. Please listen to the retail persons and make gbtc pegged to real btc. |
| 2022-05-06 | Jaime_Andres_Fernandez Besides the Grayscale letter template, it includes part of the cover letter from Grayscale suggesting that shareholders write to the SEC. |
| 2022-05-06 | John_Ellsworth Badly formatted letter. The From: field says John Ellsworth but the lettes is signed Judy Ellsworth. |
| 2022-05-06 | Justin_Thole I own close to 7,000 shares of Grayscale [worth now ~10 million USD], and I also own Bitcoin. Grayscale is a large portion of my retirement account. |
| 2022-05-06 | William_David_Freeze I own 1,000 shares of GBTC [worth now ~1.5 million USD] |
| 2022-05-06 | Matthew_Avery you are not protecting me, the investor from the very person you were appointed to protect The from was a --- in the Grayscale template. |
| 2022-05-06 | Nancy_S._Rearick (I am not going to copy this whole letter) |
| 2022-05-06 | Nathan_Mead I, a sovereign individual, would like to invest in an asset called Bitcoin. |
| 2022-05-06 | Neil_Perry I have an engineering degree and two Master's degree [sic], including an MBA. I fully understand the risks and rewards of owning and trading crypto currency, NFT's, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, 3x leveraged ETFs, commodities, precious metals, and real estate. I win, lose, succeed, and fail on my own, with my own decisions. I do not need or want 'big brother' SEC or federal government telling me what I can and can't do with MY MONEY! |
| 2022-05-06 | Paul_Grayburn holding a small amount of BTC has been shown to offset portfolio volatility which is why many experts |
| 2022-05-06 | Scott_Brown I own six figures of GBTC and other Grayscale funds and seven figures of crypto. |
| 2022-05-06 | Shonntte_Baldwin From: Shonntte Baldwin ... I'm writing from Shonntte Baldwin, with gratitude The Grayscale template said I'm writing from ***[ ADD YOUR STATE HERE ]***, with gratitude. |
| 2022-05-06 | Timothy_G._Caudill [Because of the 25% discount] shareholders like me are experiencing a destruction of value of around $7.5 billion. Personally for me it is in excess of $100,000. |
| 2022-05-07 | Angelo_Gershon it's great to be buying bitcoin at a discounted price but I would rather buy and sell at the market price. |
| 2022-05-08 | Charles_J._Margolis Very long letter with bits of the Grayscale template interspersed with the tragic but quite irrelevant history of how his once wealthy family that 'built Ruddell's Fort in December 1779', owned a hospital in Indianapolis, and founded a $120 million charity, was ruined by malicious lawyers. Praises not only GBTC but also BCHG, Grayscales Bitcoin Cash (BCH) fund. |
| 2022-05-08 | Stephen_Belcher I would like to buy a spot etf and own bitcoin as a security rather than property because big brokerage firms allow easy borrowing against securities and they don't currently allow borrowing against bitcoin (as property). Schwab is one example. |
| 2022-03-02 | Barry_Reinholtz Anyone remembers the Twinkies defense? Meet the Oreos defense: I like Oreo cookies. They arent good for me but I like them, I buy them and then I eat them. Garry Ganslery doesnt tell me that I cant eat Oreos. So why cant I buy bitcoin even if its not good for me? Let me eat my Oreos. |
| 2022-03-21 | Charles_Hwang This letter has a chart comparing the performance of BITO (the Bitcoin Futures ETF), GBTC at its market price, GBTC at BTC price, and BTC. Nothing surprising, but thought it may be useful. |
| 2022-03-22 | Damien_Lynch This guy is in favor of converting GBTC to an ETF, but he is actually invested in ETHE, Grayscale's Ethereum fund. He notes two interesting points (1) if GBTC becomes and ETF, he hopes that ETHE will become one too; however (2) he lives in the EU, and while he can own ETHE, he would not be allowed to own the corresponding ETF, and so would be forced to sell the ETHE, at a loss and against his will. I wonder how many GBTC investors, especially those who spammed the SEC, live outside the US and are aware of (2)? |
| 2022-03-26 | Campbell_R._Harvey A long pro letter by a professor of finance, with plenty of footnotes and detailed justifications. Tries to argue that the price would NOT be vulnerable to manipulation." |
| 2022-04-13 | Mount_Carmel and what about the Greyscale ETH fund? |
| 2022-04-18 | Davis_Polk_and_Wardwell_LLP From the Greyscale lawyers, arguing mainly that the SEC should approve their bitcon ETF because it has approved a bitcoin FUTURES ETF and the APA requires the SEC to be consistent. |
| 2022-04-25 | Peter_L._Briger_Jr. A pro letter from Fortress. They have a crypto division. But they call GBTC, confusingly, just BTC. The letter explains the SEC's explanation of why it approved a BTC Futures ETF but has denied all BTC spot ETFS. Namely, the SEC had previousy decided that any Futures ETFs would be approved without examination. Fortress then argues that the SEC should be consistent in its mistakes. Fortress also argues that BTC is not prone to manipulation because it has strong links to a regulated market of significant size (i.e., the CME). But that does not make sense to me bcause the Chigago Mercantile Exchange is where BTC Futures are traded, not BTC itself. Right? And of course no mention of BTC manipulation through vapor-backed USDT. On the contrary, they claims that manipulation of BTC price would be terribly expensive. That is flatly dishonest... |
| 2022-04-27 | David_Noble This pro letter is from a David Noble, director of the Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Connecticut. According to https://t.co/DFMpcDcciV>the Institute's page David is an active mentor at UConn, and has recently founded Zatoichi Co., a blockchain based startup. Prior to UConn, David was a securities and corporate finance attorney |
| 2022-05-03 | Carol_R._Goforth_and_Clayton_N._Little This pro letter from Professor Carol R. Goforth, a University Professor and the Clayton N. Little Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) School of Law is clearly cribbed, footnotes and all, from that of Prof. Donna Redell, as well as from the Last October... spam template. She claims to have no investment or any vested interest in GBTC whatsoever, and is supporting the conversion to ETF only because the arbitrary and capricious attitude of the SEC might lead to wasteful litigation. I can't imagine a lawyer seeing this as a BAD thing.... |
| 2022-05-05 | Bill_K A VERY long letter from Bill K. Retail Investor, with many footnotes. The author says writing on behalf of Greyscale but does not identify himself and the signature is illegible. The letter is dated April 29, 2022 but the footer on every page says November 29, 2021 |
| 2022-05-18 | Boris_Hristov Does not ask for the conversion specifically, but only generically for the SEC to provide some way to equalize the GBTC NAV to the spot price. |
| 2022-03-02 | Bob_Van_Wetter The usual It would be good for me blurb, then one page of disclaimers, including an ad for his accounting company. |
| 2022-03-03 | Adam_Hasbargen Greyscale knows what they're doing. Bitcoin knows what they're doing. I want it. That simple. |
| 2022-03-12 | Michael_Cammer This one is half conscious: Dear SEC, Buying other currencies and commodities as ETFs is a convenient gamble, so why not allow people to gamble with bitcoin? |
| 2022-03-13 | Michael_D._Moffitt This letter quotes a 2022 text by Joseph Grundfest, former SEC commissioner. Joseph basically says (not with these words): It is true that the BTC price is manipulated and the markets are dirty. But then the Futures ETF BITO should have been rejected too. Since the SEC blundered and approved BITO, the SEC must approve the spot ETF too. Because being consistent is much more important than doing the right thing. |
| 2022-03-14 | Zylo I am a bedside nurse in Dallas, Texas, and have been fascinated with blockchain technology for several years. Unfortunately he/she has not had the time to master more promising technologies, such as microsample blood analysis, compact tokamaks, or wormhole navigation. |
| 2022-03-16 | Mark_Dunetz This guy suggests that the SEC, instead of converting GBTC to an ETF, should order Grayscale to let shareholders to redeem their shares for the underlying BTC. Which presumably would mean the liquidation of GBTC, given the current negative premium. Right? |
| 2022-03-19 | Daniel In favor but complains about the index including OKCoin's price. Wants it to be replaced by Kraken's. |
| 2022-03-23 | Justin_Woddis Even Brazil has a spot ETF Shame on us down here. https://t.co/d9OpU6wIo5>As if COVID was not enough... |
| 2022-03-23 | Charles_J._Sabatier_III Borrowing from Ryan Selkis, CEO and founder of Messari. 'A normal ETF ...' Wasn't Ryan's alias Two-bit Idiot, years ago? |
| 2022-03-23 | Noah_Bloomberg This letter by 25 year old law student could be a good summary of all the lies that bitcoin promoters say. Or used to say -- now some of those lies are too obviously absurd even for them. |
| 2022-03-25 | Gregory_Gross I am aware of Chairman Gensler's concerns that Bitcoin is the 'wild west.' But remember that the wild west was tamed only by allowing people to own it outright. Likewise, BTC spot ownership is outright ownership |
| 2022-03-28 | John_Sundeen My investment [in GBTC] is a store of value as an alternative to holding United States dollars, which has been devalued by 96% since 1913. |
| 2022-04-07 | Marc_Scordo I invested in Grayscale funds because they promised that one day the funds would become ETFs. So please approve. |
| 2022-04-06 | Behnam_Tabrizi Claims to love [sic] in California and teach Business at Stanford University. But he is actually a consulting professor, which does not seem to imply any teaching roles... |
| 2022-04-06 | Clinton_Ford Edited the ***[PLEASE WRITE YOUR THOUGHTS IN HERE...]*** but left the ***[ and ]***. |
| 2022-04-14 | David_White Says that he and his family invested in GBTC and lost 11% so far while BTC itself gained 21%. He does seem to be asking for GBTC to be made into an ETF, but wants the SEC to approve an ETF that tracks the spot price of bitcoin. Is GBTC going to magically do that, if it becomes an ETF? |
| 2022-04-22 | David_Witt Waxes philosophical: Accounting and financial performance measures are practically illusions covering the true human dynamic at play that affects almost all returns. |
| 2022-04-22 | Anonymous From New Jersey. Says Because Chairman Gensler must be in the pocket of the banking industry [...] Gensler has not put a wash rule in place for Crypto, which causes the price of Bitcoin and other Cryptos to fluctuate wildly from traders playing games. The only reason why Gensler would not implement a wash sale rule for Bitcoin is to keep the price volatile, much to the delight of his buddies in the banking industry. |
| 2022-04-22 | Simon_Siu Some ancient Chinese wisdom by Chi Shing Siu from Hong Kong: Human's desire is like energy, it will flow like water, same as money, it will flow to where it wants to go to or tends to go to, if you try to stop them here, they will flow to other places to continue the trend, it is unstoppable. |
| 2022-04-22 | James_Dodds when I purchased gbtc as not aware that it is not already an etf and filing taxes this year has been a giant hassle. Which shows how well informed the GBTC investors have been... |
| 2022-04-22 | Derek_Serlet I understand that the US has a considerable vested interest in keeping the dollar as the world's reserve currency, but I do not believe that approving a spot ETF for BTC in anyway threatens the dollars dominance. Ah well, then, ... |
| 2022-04-22 | Ken_Reid Should this letter be counted as pro? my investment in GBTC is shit. Bitcoin should be called 'Shitcoin,' [...] if you support of the conversion [...] please be sure to consider the poor shmuicks like me who put money into this stupid fund. Id like to know for sure if being an ETF will really work. I just wish I hadn't bought into Grayscale SHITCOIN Trust. |
| 2022-04-22 | Joseph_Valent This letter mentions that 10 to 15 years ago it was possible to buy bitcoins with the smile points offered by a long distance phone carrier in California, which has since stopped serving the state. Does anyone know about that? |
| 2022-04-22 | Jeff_Byrd An interesting pro argument: The current BTC futures price ETF is an abomination and only serves its Wall Street masters so they can manipulate the spot price at the expense of the retail investor you are supposed to be representing and protecting. A spot price BTC etf product would level the playing field and give retail and institutional investors equal access to Bitcoin Is he saying We want to manipulate the price too!?? |
| 2022-04-24 | Jose_Garcia A pro letter, direct and short. Too short, though. |
| 2022-04-22 | Mike_Tilghman This letter notes Vanguard is doing away with GBTC because it is OTC and will remove access. Schwab and TD Ameritrade charge for trades on it because it is OTC. 🤔 |
| 2022-04-22 | Anonymous On April 22 there were 52 letters by Anonymous. In this one, the guy asks the SEC please keep me anonymous. The SEC did indeed list his name as Anonymous on the list of letters. But kept the From field with his full name. 😄 |
| 2022-04-28 | Dennis Be assured, my motivation is to remove all incumbents as the are mostly crooks. |
| 2022-05-02 | Gregg_Rosenberg Here is an original computational argument in favor of the ETF: I invest money for a family office [...] I use GBTC [...] for diversification. I have algorithms which readily rebalance based on set correlation goals between anticipated price movements of portfolio assets [...] GBTC's behavior as a trust undermines my goal, as its erratic relationship to the spot price of bitcoin makes it harder to optimize position size. |
| 2022-05-06 | Andrew_Ingram Vanguard just restricted trading of OTC products, so now I can't buy more until GBTC is made an ETF. |
| 2022-05-06 | Jaime_Andres_Fernandez as an active retiree I manage our savings with my wife. We invest in ETF's as a way to balance our risk and converting GBTC into an ETF would support our conservative strategy to grow our savings in the long-term as opposed to an speculative strategy. |
| 2022-05-06 | James_Matthew_Wallace If I understood correctly, this guy wishes that the conversion be done in such a way that he ends up with the money that he invested, regardless of the current price. One of the guys who bought at $69k? |
| 2022-05-06 | Barry_Seitles I write to you as a SUFFERING GBTC shareholder |
| 2022-05-06 | Andre_da_Hora As a brazilian and shareholder of GBTC it reaaly suprise me why SEC has not approved GBTC convert to ETF. |
| 2022-05-08 | Charles_J._Margolis This record-length letter tells in confusing detail how the guy's family that built Ruddell's Fort in December 1779 was scammed out of their 100s of millions fortune by lawyers and now he is a small investor who invested in GBTC and all other Greyscale funds. He says instead of building a hospital my family should have invested in mining bitcoin |
| 2022-05-07 | Kevin_White contact me if I can be of additional assistance |
| 2022-05-10 | Amir_Eliav I am Amir Eliav, 33 years old, [...] a real estate investor and a realtor [...] am i going to grow my business 8% YoY just to keep up with inflation? [...] Bitcoin is my savings account, Bitcoin is my real estate, Bitcoin is my retirement. Bitcoin is hope for me. |
| 2022-05-05 | Michael_Rudinsky Hi SEC comments: I am an owner of GBTC shares in both Etrade and TD Ameritrade, for both taxable and retirement (roth, normal Ira) accounts. I bought GBTC (and the Ethereum Grayscale equivalent) ... I now realize that I have purchased a faulty financial product [... so please fix my mistake] |
| 2022-05-05 | Stephen_Ratcliffe. "Crypto is the future. Tell that fossilised, one trick pony WARREN BUFFET, he doesn't know his arse from his elbow!! |
| 2022-05-05 | Adam_Beiter I am Adam Beiter,36, a construction worker, cook, and crypto/stock investor. |
| 2022-05-15 | Patrick_A._Gaughan the SEC is dragging its heals [sic] in approving GBTC’s conversion to an ETF. |
| 2022-04-08 | Horizon_Kinetics_Asset_Management_LLC Longish letter but only repeats the arguments of the Greyscale template. |
| 2022-05-15 | Pat_Worth This PDF letter has the Grayscale letterhead but the text is a copy of the comment template, and it is signed by Patricia Worth with no job title or further identification, with a placeholder [DATE] in place of the date. Could it be that the author copied and edited the PDF of the message he received from Grayscale, instead of copying just the comment template? |
| 2022-05-19 | Tosino_Ayobami Pls sec help us to resolve this issue bcus here in Nigeria we depend much lot on crypto bcus their is no sure Of living in the country |
| 2022-05-25 | Robert_E._Whaley A long pro letter by a Professor of Finance at Vanderbilt University, with several charts and tables. Has a detailed analysis of the performance of the BITO futures fund. However, the very attempt to compare BITO to the proposed ETF indicates that he has not fully grasped the fundamental difference between the two (or is consciously trying to obfuscate it). |
| 2022-03-03 | Angela_Jackson AMFM One Nation Under God Oneluv17 |
| 2022-03-11 | Anonymous Mario 11:15 AM Thanks @Binna (she/her). In the process of making the changes. |
| 2022-03-10 | Helen_Gross Mario 11:15 AM Thanks @Binna (she/her). In the process of making the changes. |
| 2022-03-15 | Andrew_Lester Mario 11:15 AM Thanks @Binna (she/her). In the process of making the changes. |
| ???-??-?? | ??? Mario 11:15 AM Thanks @Binna (she/her). In the process of making the changes. |
| 2022-04-07 | Jennie_Bautista I want to request an Ownership Account please. My real name should be as the account holder. |
Last edited on 2022-06-05 22:29:11 by stolfi