Grayscale Investments, LLC, a digital currency investing authority, launched four new investment products including Bitcoin Cash Investment Trust, Ethereum Investment Trust, Litecoin Investment Trust and XRP Investment Trust. As of 28 February 2018, Grayscale reported possessed $2.1 billion in assets under management. Barry Silbert, Digital Currency Group Founder & CEO and SecondMarket Founder, filed a Reg D for each: Bitcoin Cash Investment Trust, Ethereum Investment Trust, Litecoin Investment Trust and XRP Investment Trust.
According the filings, BCI Trust has raised $6,858,659 to date, Ethereum Investment Trust $11,516,060, Litecoin Investment Trust $493,632 and XRP Investment Trust $9,506,039, respectively.
Sibert recently told Forbes that he believed most crypto coins would go to zero, excluding a handful of coins such as the ones selected for the trusts:
“Most of these tokens don’t have real utility. Most of them are not differentiated from others. In the long run, I think there’s only going to be one digital gold. I think there’s only going to be one privacy-focused token. I think there’s going to be one main smart-contract platform…It may take 20 years to get there.”
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Each of the Trusts’ shares are reportedly among the first securities solely invested in Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple. Grayscale indicated that the investment objective of each Trust is for the shares to reflect the value of BCH, ETH, LTC, and XRP, respectively, held by each Trust, as determined by reference to the TradeBlock index for each digital asset at 4:00EST, less each Trust’s expenses and other liabilities. Grayscale believes that the shares represent a cost-effective and convenient way to gain digital asset exposure relative to a direct investment in digital assets.
“We are thrilled to expand Grayscale’s offerings to meet rising investor demand,” stated Grayscale Managing Director Michael Sonnenshein. “Our team is committed to bridging the gap between the global investment community and the digital currency asset class. We remain focused on product creation and will continue to launch more single-asset and diversified products to provide exposure where investors are looking for it.”
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The company indicated that the Trusts do not currently operate a redemption program: there can be no assurance that the value of the shares will approximate the value of the respective digital asset held by each Trust and the shares may trade at a substantial premium over, or discount to, the value of the digital assets held by each Trust, if traded on any secondary market in the future.