Cryptoinvestment company Grayscale has filed an application with the SEC for an initial public offering. The offering could take place as early as this year, if market conditions allow. The decision to go public coincided with the bitcoin rally, growing interest from institutional investors and the activation of the crypto sector ahead of Crypto Week in the U.S. Congress.

Details

Crypto asset management investment firm Grayscale announced that it has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO). The size of the offering and price range have not yet been determined, Grayscale said in a statement.

The filing is confidential. Companies typically file for IPOs in confidence to maintain control of the process and reduce reputational risk. This approach allows them to interact with regulators and get feedback from the SEC without the public scrutiny, explains Bloomberg. 

At the same time, a public announcement of a confidential filing could be used for strategic purposes - for example, to create excitement in the market or gauge investor interest, the agency added.

Grayscale is expected to go public later this year based on standard IPO timelines, but the exact dates will depend on market conditions and could change, Bloomberg writes.

What Grayscale is known for

Grayscale was founded in 2013. The company played a key role in the admission of bitcoin-linked exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to U.S. exchanges. In 2023, it won in court to overturn the SEC's decision to reject its application to create a bitcoin ETF under the guise of investor protection. That victory paved the way for the first directly investing bitcoin ETFs, including those from Grayscale, BlackRock and Fidelity Investments, to be admitted to trading in January 2024. 

According to Grayscale's website, it currently manages more than $33 billion in assets and offers more than three dozen investment products, Bloomberg writes. Grayscale is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group and part of the conglomerate created by billionaire Barry Silbert;

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF manages $21 billion in assets, while BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF manages three times that amount. In addition, BlackRock's ETF offers a lower fee - 0.25% versus Grayscale's 1.5% - making it more attractive to investors.

Context

Grayscale's IPO filing follows a few months after a similar decision by billionaire twin Winklevosses' cryptocurrency company Gemini. Gemini filed after the creator of one of the world's largest stablecoins, Circle, began trading shares. The company's dollar-linked cryptocurrency is the second-largest capitalization among stablecoins.

The growing interest in public offerings among cryptocurrency companies comes amid a massive bitcoin rally and industry revival.Bitcoin has set several records this year and hit the $120,000 mark for the first time on July 14 amid growing investor enthusiasm. This came ahead of "Crypto Week" in the U.S. House of Representatives, which is scheduled to consider key bills for the industry.

The expectation of clear regulation in the U.S., as well as bitcoin's steady growth despite President Donald Trump's unstable trade policies, has bolstered institutional investors' confidence in the asset class.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor

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