Hedge fund Fir Tree files lawsuit against Grayscale: Bloomberg

Quick Take

  • Grayscale Investments is being sued by hedge fund Fir Tree Capital Management.
  • The firm wants to push the company to address the large discount it trades at by lowering fees and resuming redemptions.

Hedge fund Fir Tree Capital Management is suing crypto investment fund Grayscale Investments for information to investigate potential mismanagement and conflicts of interest, Bloomberg News reported, citing Delaware court documents. 

Fir Tree wants to use the the information to push Grayscale to address the large discount it trades at relative to the bitcoin it holds by lowering fees and resuming redemptions, Bloomberg cited sources as saying. 

The complaint also alleges that Grayscale investors have been harmed by "shareholder-unfriendly actions."

"In 2013, we launched Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to provide investors with access to Bitcoin – always with the intention of converting it to an ETF when permitted by U.S. regulators," a company spokesperson said in an email to The Block, adding that the company respects the views of shareholders and appreciates "engaging directly with them on the details of our product structures and operating model."

"We remain 100% committed to converting GBTC to an ETF, as we strongly believe this is the best long-term product structure for GBTC and its shareholders," the spokesperson said.

Grayscale is part of the Digital Currency Group (DCG) that has faced challenges after the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange, with sister firm Genesis halting client withdrawals last month.

(Updates with comment from Grayscale in fourth paragraph.)


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Catarina is a reporter for The Block based in New York City. Before joining the team, she covered local news at Patch.com and at the New York Daily News. She started her career in Lisbon, Portugal, where she worked for publications such as Público and Sábado. She graduated from NYU with a MA in Journalism. Feel free to email any comments or tips to [email protected] or to reach out on Twitter (@catarinalsm).

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