<p>Crypto investment firm Digital Currency Group has bought $388 million worth of GBTC shares as of October 19, according to a release today. The company has also increased its authorization to buy more shares from $750 million to $1 billion.</p> <p>This comes two days after the discount on the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust fell to nearly its lowest point, at -20.5%. This means that the price of shares in the fund are 20% lower than the value of the underlying bitcoin represented by each share. Part of the reason behind the discount is that shares cannot be redeemed for the underlying bitcoin.</p> <p>After GBTC <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/news+/98973/grayscale-bitcoin-trust-discount-premium">started trading at a discount</a>, the amount of bitcoin flowing into the fund came to an abrupt halt. GBTC's holdings have been essentially flat since February (declining gently due to fees).</p> <p><iframe frameborder="0" height="420" src="https://embed.theblockcrypto.com/data/crypto-markets/structured-products/bitcoin-holdings-of-grayscale-bitcoin-trust/embed" title="BTC Holdings of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust" width="100%"></iframe></p> <p>Over the long term, Grayscale is planning to fix this by turning the fund into a bitcoin ETF. But to do so requires SEC approval. While the SEC has allowed <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/120971/a-bitcoin-etf-is-about-to-launch-heres-what-you-need-to-know">the first U.S. bitcoin ETF</a> to launch, it's based on bitcoin futures rather than spot — and the SEC hasn't yet expressed intent to let a spot-based ETF go live.</p> <p>In the short term, DCG — which owns Grayscale — is helping to supply some demand, which may go some way to counteract the discount. By the end of April, the company had bought $193.5 million worth of GBTC and expanded its limit to $750 million. Today's announcement confirms it has bought an additional $194.5 million worth of GBTC since then.</p>