May. 07, 2022
SEC, Please convert the Grayscale GBTC trust into an ETF. I'm a regular, well-educated, employed, and middle-aged (41-year-old) American. I maintain diversity in my investments as I save for retirement. One of my investment sectors is cryptocurrency of which is most heavily weighted toward Bitcoin (GBTC) trust. The GBTC fund is the easiest for me to hold and I trust Grayscales security mechanisms to safehold the bitcoin no different than I trust other brokerages to safely keep track of my stock withholdings. I believe Grayscale is actually more secure in their safekeeping of the underlying BTC than traditional brokerages holding stocks. The ability of the Trust to sell at a premium or a discount is a negative aspect of the investment mechanism that disadvantages the investor and favors the larger institutions, seemingly contrary to investor protection. There exist ETFs approved by the SEC that are higher risk than BTC. For example, ETFs that offer leveraged positions on commodities, in long and short directions, and the greater S&P and NASDAQ. It's simply unexplainable why these products are ok yet a BTC ETF is not. The SEC's recently approved BTC Options ETFs are just a further way for institutions to manipulate the price via contango effects which are contrary to SEC's reasoning to delay the conversion of GBTC to ETF. Please convert the Grayscale GBTC trust into an ETF and contact me if I can be of additional assistance. Kevin White