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The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is often believed to be one of the largest single holders of Bitcoin in the world. In a Sept. 6 social media post, Arkham claimed that the trust held over $16 billion worth of the cryptocurrency. Current Arkham data estimates the trust’s holdings at $27 billion, as the price of Bitcoin has risen over the past few months.
Shares of GBTC have been traded since 2013 but were not redeemable for Bitcoin until Jan. 11. Because of the irredeemability of the shares, they have often traded at a steep discount to their net asset value, or the value of the Bitcoin they represent. For example, in October, each share of the trust was worth 16% less than the amount of Bitcoin it represented.
On Jan. 12, the day after multiple Bitcoin ETFs began trading, Arkham Intelligence data showed that the trust sent 894 BTC to Coinbase in one transaction and another 2,607 BTC to other wallets in three other separate transactions. The amount sent to Coinbase represents $41 million in outflows, or approximately 0.15% of the Grayscale trust’s total holdings, while the remaining outflows to other wallets represent an additional $119 million, or 0.44%.
On the same day that these outflows occurred, Bitcoin’s price went into a sudden downturn, falling from approximately $46,000 to slightly above $43,000 by 6:47 pm UTC. The fall resulted in the break of a strong line of support at $44,740.
Despite the small amount of outflows shown by Arkham, some X users theorized that the downturn may have been caused by redemptions of GBTC shares, as holders of these shares finally got the chance to cash out. ...