Grayscale revealed as second-largest Bitcoin holder despite confidentiality efforts: Arkham Intelligence Grayscale revealed as second-largest Bitcoin holder despite confidentiality efforts: Arkham Intelligence
Arkham Intelligence reports that the funds are distributed among more than 1,750 addresses.
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Updated: Sep. 6, 2023 at 8:11 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Blockchain analytical firm Arkham Intelligence identified Grayscaleโs Bitcoin Trust as the second-largest Bitcoin (BTC) holder in a Sept. 6 post on X, formerly Twitter.
The company said that the trust is the โsecond largest BTC entity globallyโ and that the fund contains over $16 billion of the flagship digital asset. This is in tandem with Grayscale’s website, which shows that the total assets under its BTC trust are $16.009 billion.
Arkham revealed that the funds are distributed among more than 1,750 addresses, each holding 1,000 BTC or less. The wallets were identified despite Grayscale’s decision to keep the trust’s on-chain addresses confidential.
Last year, Grayscale faced heavy speculations about its Bitcoin balance after the collapse of FTX. At the time, the crypto investment funds cited โsecurity concernsโ as why it decided not to publish on-chain addresses associated with it. Nonetheless, its custodial partner, Coinbase, later released aย reportย detailing the assets it held on behalf of the investment firm.
Arkham’s disclosure positions it as the pioneering firm in identifying the specific addresses associated with the GBTC fund.
Arkham previously identified Grayscale’s ย Ethereum Trust as the second-largest Ethereum (ETH) holder, with addresses associated with the fund holding around $5 billion worth of ETH. The firm had also identified Robinhood as the holder of the third-largest Bitcoin walletย and theย fifth-largest Ethereum wallet.
GBTC discount under 20%
GBTC’s discount has remained under 20% despite the bearish sentiments that have kept BTC under $26,000 for most of the current month, according to Ycharts data.
The discount had rapidly dropped to its lowest level within the last two years after Grayscale secured a victory over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August. The court had ruled that the financial regulator acted โarbitrarily and capriciouslyโ in rejecting its attempt to convert its trust into an exchange-traded fund.
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Oluwapelumi Adejumo
Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.
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Ethereum
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Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
Grayscale Investments
Established in 2013 by Digital Currency Group, Grayscale Investments is a trusted authority on digital currency investing and cryptocurrency asset management.
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FTX is a defunct cryptocurrency exchange, currently in bankruptcy proceedings, that was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and Zixiao “Gary” Wang in May 2019.