Blockchain and Cryptocurrency: People, Culture and Tech
Bitcoin is ending one of the more spectacular weeks of both its recent history and its entire existence, still comfortably above $50,000. After gaining almost 10% over the past seven days, Bitcoin has surprised an already bullish crowd of hodlers and dealt an increasing blow to naysayers who remain convinced that a crash is guaranteed.
The firm said it now oversees $40 billion worth of assets. The vast majority of that is in the $33.1 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and $5.7 billion Grayscale Ethereum Trust. The remaining $1.2 billion is in six alt-coin trusts and the multi-asset Grayscale Digital Large cap Fund.
Calling the suit indicative of what was wrong with the agency’s treatment of cryptocurrencies under now-departed Chairman Jay Clayton, Hall called on Gary Gensler, the recently nominated SEC chairman who is currently a professor teaching digital assets and blockchain at MIT, to use the suit to “chart a different course” in its treatment of cryptocurrencies.
“In response to the SEC’s action, certain significant market participants have announced measures, including the delisting of XRP from major digital asset trading platforms,” Grayscale said. As a result, the firm came to the “conclusion that it is likely to be increasingly difficult for U.S. investors, including the Trust, to convert XRP into U.S. dollars, and therefore continue the Trust’s operations.”
