Israeli asset manager Altshuler Shaham has invested $100 million into the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) late last year, when the price of bitcoin was at around $21,000. The fund’s investment more than doubled since then,
Israel’s Globes publication quoted the firm’s co-CEO and co-owner, Gilad Altshuler, as saying:
The $100 million investment has become $200 million, and of the $200 million we have already sold about a third.
Altshuler added that investing in bitcoin is new for the company and it took “a few months” to get “all the relevant approvals and all the options that approved our investment in the field.” The firm still holds around $150 million worth of GBTC shares.
Altshuler Shaham has over $51 billion worth of assets under management, with most of the funds being long-term savings for retirement and pension funds. It’s one of the largest investment houses in Israel and reportedly invested in crypto initial coin offerings (ICOs) back in 2017.
Per its co-CEO, it may still buy more GBTC shares in the near future, depending on their price.
It depends on the price. We were a little intimidated by the speed with which Bitcoin reached these prices, with its global market capitalization crossing the $1 trillion mark, and that worried us a bit.
GBTC shares have recently been trading at a 15% discount compared to their net asset value, after several alternative bitcoin trusts and Canadian bitcoin exchange-traded funds were launched. CryptoCompare’s Digital Asset Management Review details funds like 3iQ’s QBTC.U, WisdomTree’s BTCW, 21Shares’ ABTC, and VanEck’s VBTC have all given investors exposure to crypto.
In response to the discount the Digital Currency Group, the parent company of Grayscale, announced it would buy up to $250 million in GBTC shares. Repurchasing shares is a common tool used by companies to increase the price of shares while also creating demand and reducing supply.
Featured image via Unsplash.
