Arkham Intelligence Unveils Grayscale’s $16.1B Onchain BTC Holdings

TL;DR

• Arkhaim Intelligence unveils over 1750 on-chain addresses believed to be tied to Grayscale, holding over $16 billion worth of BTC, to become the second-largest Bitcoin holder globally.
• The revelation comes on the heels of Grayscale’s victory over the U.S. SEC, where the court ordered to vacate Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF application rejection decision.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) Holds Over $16M Worth of BTC

Blockchain data analytics, Arkham Intelligence reveals on-chain wallets tied to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), holding over $16 billion worth of BTC, making it the second-largest HODL stack of Bitcoin globally.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, an investment product offering investors exposure to Bitcoin without needing to purchase or hold cryptocurrency directly, keeps sufficient Bitcoin to fulfill withdrawals.

Breaking: Arkham has identified the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s holdings on chain.

It is the 2nd largest BTC entity globally, holding >$16B of BTC.

Though Grayscale publicly reports balances, they have refused to identify the on-chain addresses of the trust. https://t.co/uEN4kNldpm pic.twitter.com/p9GfrthoKR

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) September 6, 2023

Although Grayscale publicly declares all its balances. It has never identified all its on-chain addresses, citing security concerns as the reason it doesn’t disclose them.

Remarkably, Arkham’s findings check out with the trust’s website, highlighting that the total assets under the company’s Bitcoin trust are over $16 billion.

“Due to security concerns, we do not make such on-chain wallet and confirmation information publicly available through a cryptographic Proof of Reserve or other advanced cryptographic accounting procedure.”

Grayscale Tweeted on X (Formerly Twitter).

Coinbase, Grayscale’s custodial partner, had previously released a report detailing all assets held on behalf of the trust, subduing some of the never-ending speculations.

Notably, Arkham’s discovery may end the long-term rumors circulating the crypto sphere about the security status of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust; following the collapse of the FTX Exchange.

Bitcoin Distributed Among Over 1750 Addresses

Arkham reveals that the trust has over 1750 addresses holding over $16 billion worth of Bitcoin, each containing no more than 1,000 BTC.

In light of recent developments, these addresses were prominently identified on Arkham’s dashboard, even though Grayscale had consistently made efforts to keep their on-chain addresses under wraps.

While searching Grayscale Bitcoin Trust on Arkham, it’ll reveal five wallet addresses that are connected to Grayscale.

The first three addresses hold about $51 million worth of Bitcoin. The remaining two don’t have funds, but their on-chain activities link back to Grayscale.

Grayscale Vs. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

The news comes from the trust’s recent victory over the U.S. SEC, where the appellate court ordered the regulator to revert its decision on rejecting Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF application.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is relentless in pursuing spot Bitcoin ETF.

 It has already written to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, calling for a meeting to discuss the way forward after the court’s decision.

The U.S. SEC has approved Bitcoin futures ETFs based on the market surveillance agreement with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

The commission has, however, denied granting the same setup to Graysclae’s spot Bitcoin ETF, arguing market manipulation concerns. What would Grayscale do if the trust fails in its spot Bitcoin ETF pursuit? Grayscale might consider a tender offer if the trust fails to convert the GBTC fund into an exchange-traded fund.

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