Largest crypto investment manager tops $10 billion in assets

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

 

FILE PHOTO: Representations of virtual currency Bitcoin are seen in this picture illustration taken taken March 13, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The world's largest digital currency asset manager Grayscale said on Wednesday its assets under management soared to a record $10.4 billion (£7.8 billion), bolstered by the continued rise in investment inflows as well as the surge in the price of bitcoin.

 

Bitcoin on Wednesday jumped to $18,483 <BTC=BTSP>, the highest level since December 2017. It has appreciated about 160% this year and gained 17% in the last three days.

 

The virtual currency is now close to its all-time peak of just under $20,000 at the height of its retail investor-fueled 2017 bubble.

 

Grayscale's assets grew 76% from $5.9 billion at the end of the third quarter. Its bitcoin fund hit nearly $9 billion in assets on Wednesday, up 85% from that in the third quarter.

 

The investment manager recorded its largest ever inflows of more than $1 billion in the third quarter, according to its quarterly update.

 

Since the beginning of 2020 to the third quarter, investments into Grayscale reached $2.4 billion, more than double the $1.2 billion cumulative inflows into its funds from 2013-2019.

 

"While we're only midway through the fourth quarter, I can certainly share that momentum has continued to carry through to the fourth quarter and probably accelerated a bit to what we have seen in Q3," Michael Sonnenshein, managing director at Grayscale told Reuters in an interview.

 

The bitcoin fund represents about 80% of the assets it manages.

 

Sonnenshein said the market for bitcoin has matured and he expects a steady climb in its price, noting a much more two-sided trading space with the development of ancillary services such as derivatives and cryptocurrency lending.

 

"For a lot of investors, bitcoin has a lot of staying power and it has overcome so many challenges and so many instances when it has been called dead," Sonnenshein said.

 

Its next largest fund -- the Grayscale Ethereum Trust -- posted assets under management of $1.2 billion on Wednesday, up more than 50% from $806 million at the end of the third quarter.

 

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by David Gregorio)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-11-19

 

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Sure seems to be infinite supply of "greater fools" out there

11 minutes ago, Emdog said:

Sure seems to be infinite supply of "greater fools" out there

This has been going for many years, rest assured that they purchased the majority of the coins they have at a fraction of the current price.

 

But you're right, the world is full of fools.

"Fools" that have gotten over a 100%  return this year. 

1 hour ago, how241 said:

"Fools" that have gotten over a 100%  return this year. 

 

I was told by plenty of people that I'm an idiot for buying Bitcoin when it was priced about $12-15 each.

 

It was just a few thousand dollars at the time, sometimes it's worth taking a little risk on something new.

 

On 11/19/2020 at 4:44 PM, ukrules said:

 

I was told by plenty of people that I'm an idiot for buying Bitcoin when it was priced about $12-15 each.

 

It was just a few thousand dollars at the time, sometimes it's worth taking a little risk on something new.

 

 

So considering that few thousand, was not more than just 2000, you are now 3.5 Million USD strong?

 

Damn, on the internet you can just post anything.