Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust is now registered with the SEC as reporting company

Crypto asset manager Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust has been officially registered as a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting company.

As previously reported, the New York-based firm filed a registration statement on Form 10 with the SEC in Nov. 2019 on behalf of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). It has been over 60 days after the initial filing – the typical wait period before Form 10 filings automatically go effective – and GBTC is now the first cryptocurrency investment vehicle to become an SEC reporting company, according to a press statement. 

The fund was offered a private placement exemption from SEC registration in 2013, but decided to pursue this registration voluntarily to boost its compliance standard and gain confidence from investors.

“Grayscale voluntarily pursued this designation and will continue to work within existing regulatory frameworks,” said Michael Sonnenshein, managing director at Grayscale Investment. “Today’s announcement should signal to investors that our regulators are willing to engage with our products and our space as a whole."

The trust will now have to turn in its quarterly and annual reports, audited financial statements as well as other required forms to the SEC. 

Additionally, Grayscale is set to reduce the statutory holding periods for shares purchased from the trust’s private placement from 12 months to 6 months, the statement said, which would give accredited investors an earlier liquidity opportunity. The change will take place at least 90 days from now on the condition that the trust has met all relevant requirements under the Securities Act.

GBTC has seen considerable success in 2019, a company spokesperson told The Block, with over $471 million total inflow into private placement, almost twice the amount in 2018.

Sonnenshein previously emphasized that the filing was not a move to turn GBTC into an exchange-traded fund (ETF), although its products were modeled after popular investment products and have a familiar structure, according to a Nov. statement.